Court lets Najib, Wan Rosdy file affidavits in house arrest bid
Published on: Wednesday, June 05, 2024
By:
FMT, V Anbalagan
On Feb 2, the Federal Territories Pardons Board announced that Najib Razak’s prison sentence in the SRC International case had been halved to six years, and his fine reduced to RM50 million. (Bernama pic)
Kuala Lumpur: The High Court today admitted two affidavits into evidence, including one by Najib Razak, in the former prime minister’s attempt to compel the authorities to allow him to serve the remainder of his jail term under house arrest.
Also allowed into evidence was an affidavit filed late last month by Umno vice-president Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail in support of Najib’s application.
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As a result, Justice Amarjeet Singh, who was supposed to rule today whether to grant Najib leave to commence judicial review proceedings, rescheduled his decision to July 3.
Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan said Najib’s additional affidavit was filed last week.
“The two affidavits are to adduce fresh evidence. We objected as the documents were filed by way of letter without leave of court,” he told reporters after a hearing in chambers.
However, he said the judge allowed both affidavits to be included as evidence.
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Appearing with Shamsul were senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly and federal counsel Ainna Sherina Saiful Amin.
Shamsul said the Attorney-General’s Chambers maintained its stand that the affidavits should not be part of the evidence in the case.
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Najib’s lawyer Shafee Abdullah told reporters that his client’s affidavit centred on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s speech at the PKR convention in Shah Alam on April 21.
Meanwhile, in his affidavit, Wan Rosdy said he had been told by Umno Supreme Council member Tengku Zafrul Aziz that former Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah had issued an addendum allowing Najib to be held under house arrest.
However, the Pahang menteri besar said he did not have a copy of the document in his possession as it was a classified document which had yet to be executed.
Wan Rosdy said he revealed the contents of the addendum to Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and fellow Supreme Council members Azalina Othman Said, Johari Ghani and Ahmad Maslan at Zahid’s residence in Kajang on Jan 30.
Wan Rosdy said Zahid confirmed that he was informed of the matter by Tengku Zafrul earlier the same day.
Zahid filed an affidavit on April 7 in support of Najib’s leave application, stating that he had sighted a copy of the addendum order on Tengku Zafrul’s mobile phone during their meeting.
On May 2, Amarjeet rejected an application by Tengku Zafrul to “correct certain errors” contained in Zahid’s affidavit.
However, the court said Tengku Zafrul could make his application again if Najib secured leave to pursue his legal challenge.
In his application filed on April 1, Najib claimed that Al-Sultan Abdullah had issued the supplementary decree during a meeting of the Federal Territories Pardons Board (FTPB) on Jan 29, one day before his term as king ended.
Najib alleged that the addendum order was not announced by the board on Feb 2, and that the government was acting in contempt for not executing the supplementary decree.
Najib also said his lawyers had previously written to Anwar, Zahid, home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, and Azalina, the law and institutional reform minister, to confirm the existence of the supplementary decree.
He said his legal team received no response.
Najib wants the court to compel the government to execute the supplementary decree, if it exists, by placing him under house arrest.
On Feb 2, the FTPB announced that it had three days earlier agreed to halve Najib’s prison sentence in the SRC International case to six years. The board also reduced his fine from RM210 million to RM50 million.
Najib, 70, is currently serving his sentence at Kajang prison and is due for release on Aug 23, 2028.
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