Former PM Najib Razak wins appeal to have house arrest bid heard in Malaysia High Court

PUTRAJAYA: Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak’s house arrest appeal bid will have to be heard at the High Court, the Court of Appeal ruled on Monday (Jan 6).

The High Court had in July dismissed Najib’s legal bid for the government to produce an addendum order reportedly issued by former king Al-Sultan Abdullah that allowed Najib to serve the remainder of his reduced six-year sentence at home.

On Monday, the three-member bench of the court came up with a 2-1 split decision that ordered the Kuala Lumpur High Court to hear the case.

Justices Azhahari Kamal Ramli and Mohd Firuz Jaffril are part of the majority ruling while presiding judge Azizah Nawawi delivered the dissenting ruling not to allow the appeal.

The decision came as hundreds of people including supporters from Najib’s own United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) as well as those from opposition coalition Perikatan Nasional gathered outside the court in solidarity with the former prime minister. 

Among them were Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan - who held a watching brief in the court - as well as Bersatu deputy president Hamzah Zainuddin and Terengganu chief minister Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar.

Last month, Najib's legal team attempted to introduce fresh evidence to his bid to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.

His son Nizar Najib had filed an affidavit that purportedly said that the Pahang sultan - who was the then-Agong - had told him about the existence of a royal addendum for the former premier to serve the remainder of his six-year jail sentence for corruption under house arrest.

Firuz - who read out the majority decision on Monday - said there was no challenge from the respondents regarding the existence of the addendum.

"This court cannot simply ignore the existence of the order by the then-king,” he said, adding that the issue of hearsay cited by the High Court last year could no longer stand with the new evidence that was filed by Nizar on Dec 5.

"A judicial review application only needs to show that there is an arguable case on the premise of fact that his interest or rights have been aggrieved. We order the matter to be remitted to the High Court for hearing on the substantive judicial review," Firuz said.

Earlier on Monday morning, Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah had told the court that the addendum only surfaced recently, after the High Court had dismissed Najib’s judicial review for house arrest in July last year.

He said that the legal team had conducted their due diligence to get the addendum.

“He only got the approval of the previous king to reveal the addendum on Dec 2 (last year) and he came up with an affidavit on the same day,” he said in reference to a letter by the Pahang palace that was purportedly sent to Nizar last month.

Shafee also told the court that Nizar had filed another affidavit claiming that the comptroller of the royal household of the Sultan of Pahang Ahmad Khirrizal Ab Rahman had confirmed the existence of the alleged addendum order, and verified its authenticity in a letter to him on Jan 4.

Shafee had in court produced the purported letter which has since gone viral on various social media platforms. 

In his arguments, government lawyer Shamsul Bolhassan had told the court that the fresh evidence does not have an important influence on the result of the case and should be dismissed.

He said that the Pardons Board chaired by the ex-king on Jan 29 last year had only dealt with the royal advice to discount Najib's jail sentence and fine, and not with any alleged royal addendum for him to serve the remainder of his jail term under house arrest.

The High Court ruled in July last year that affidavits supporting Najib's claim were inadmissible as evidence because they were hearsay.

Judge Amarjeet Singh had described affidavits filed by Malaysia's deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and another high-ranking politician from Najib's party saying they had seen a copy of the royal order as hearsay and said the government had no legal duty to respond to the application.

Following Monday's ruling by the Court of Appeal, Shafee later told reporters that he was happy with the decision and said that case management has been fixed for Jan 13.

He added that Najib was happy with the decision and that the court had recognised elements of injustice against him. 

“He (Najib) has been sleepless in prison to tell you the truth. Because he was worried whether he's going to get a fair trial and fair hearing again,” Shafee said.

In a post on his Facebook page after the verdict, the former prime minister said that he was grateful for the decision and that they had taken a step forward, without elaborating further.

Meanwhile, UMNO said that it appeals to Malaysia’s current king Sultan Ibrahim to grant Najib a full pardon for his conviction in the case in light of the latest development.

Separately, Malaysia’s Home Ministry on Monday said that it did not receive any addendum order regarding house arrest for Najib.

In a press conference after the Court of Appeal granted Najib’s case to be heard at the High Court, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said that the minutes of the Pardons Board meeting in January last year made no mention of house arrest for the former prime minister.

"The only letter the Prisons Department received was on Feb 2, 2024, on the minutes of the meeting which only mentioned the reduction of Najib's sentence to six years and his fine to RM50 million," he said.

“The letter did not mention anything about house arrest. Therefore, the Prisons Department only implemented what is contained in the order. It is important to clarify that the Home Minister and the Prisons Department did not hide any decision of the Pardons Board or failed to comply with it. We only execute official orders as received.”

HUNDREDS GATHER IN SUPPORT OF NAJIB

Outside the court on Monday, a crowd had gathered in solidarity with Najib despite warnings from police that permission for a rally had been denied and that the public was prohibited from attending it.  

“The police will take strict action against attendees as it goes against the law,” said Assistant Commissioner Aidi Sham Mohamed on Sunday.

Security in Putrajaya and around the court was stepped up, with the police setting up roadblocks at several places.

Meanwhile, several buses carrying supporters of Najib had also reportedly been prevented from attending the rally.

UMNO had initially planned to hold a rally outside the court in support of Najib but announced on Friday that it would cancel it.

This was to honour a decree by Sultan Ibrahim on pardons or sentence reductions for convicted prisoners, and also based on a directive by the Inspector-General of Police.

PAS, however, said that it would go ahead with a similar rally to "defend" the prerogative powers of the king as stated in the royal decree and to support Najib's rights. 

The former king had halved Najib’s 12-year jail term and cut his RM210 million (US$46.5 million) fine to RM50 million as one of his last official tasks before stepping down on Jan 30 last year.

Najib, 71, was convicted of misappropriating RM42 million belonging to SRC International and is currently serving his sentence at Kajang prison in the state of Selangor.

The charges against Najib, who served as prime minister from 2009 to 2018, involved the transfer of RM42 million from SRC International, a former subsidiary of state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), into his personal bank accounts in 2014 and 2015.

He was found guilty on three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money laundering and one count of abuse of power by the High Court in July 2020, and was sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million before the former king reduced Najib’s jail time and fine.

The former prime minister faces several other cases linked to the financial scandal that was said to be one of the reasons that his Barisan Nasional coalition lost power in the 2018 elections.

Last month, Najib also began his defence against 25 counts of abuse of power and money in the 1MDB corruption case.

The prosecution closed its case against Najib on May 30 last year, and more than 50 witnesses testified in the past five years, with the trial beginning on Aug 28, 2019.

Najib was charged under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act.

The offences carry a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of up to five times the amount or value of the bribe, or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

For the 21 charges of money laundering, Najib is accused of committing the offences between Mar 22, 2013, and Aug 30, 2013.

Najib issued an apology in October that the 1MDB scandal happened during his tenure, but maintained he had no knowledge of illegal transfers from the now-defunct state fund.