Najib S Addendum Never Discussed In Pardons Board Court Told

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The Kuala Lumpur High Court was told today that the purported addendum order for Najib Abdul Razak to be under house arrest was never discussed at the 61st Pardons Board meeting.
Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan also submitted that the order’s contents, as attached in an affidavit affirmed by the former prime minister’s son, Nizar, were not discussed.
The lawyer, representing the government and six other respondents, was referring to the meeting chaired by the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Jan 29, 2024.
He said that based on Article 42(1) of the Federal Constitution, read together with Article 42(8), any decision of the Agong regarding a pardon application in the Federal Territory must be determined by the Agong through the Pardons Board at a meeting presided over by the Agong.
“At the conclusion of the Pardons Board meeting, the secretariat of the Pardons Board will prepare the order for the approval of the Agong and the minister of the Federal Territory.
“In this regard, the imposition of house arrest as reflected in the addendum order was not deliberated at the 61st Pardons Board meeting.
Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan“Based on the minutes of the 61st Pardons Board meeting, only one decision was made during that meeting, namely the Agong’s 50 percent decision (on Najib’s SRC case),” Shamsul said.
He was speaking during the substantive hearing of Najib’s judicial review application on the addendum order.
He said in this instance, it is apparent that the addendum order was not deliberated at the 61st Pardons Board meeting convened in accordance with Article 42(8) of the Constitution.
As a result, the Pardons Board was unable to provide the advice mandated under Article 42(9), Shamsul explained.
“The addendum order was not issued in accordance with the proper procedural framework prescribed under Article 42(1), read together with Article 42(8) and Article 42(9) of the Constitution. Therefore, the addendum order is not legally enforceable.
“In these circumstances, any decision that was deliberated in a meeting with the Pardons Board presided over by the Agong in the manner contemplated by Article 42 of the Constitution, which includes the Agong’s 50 percent decision, is non-justiciable,” he added.
Agong weighs pardon options
According to Shamsul, during the meeting chaired by the Agong, His Majesty was requested to consider five pardon applications, including Najib’s full pardon application following his conviction for misappropriating RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd.
He added that in the said meeting, the Agong proposed that Najib be granted a full pardon and requested the members of the Pardons Board to provide their views.
The majority of the members of the Pardons Board expressed the view that the applicant should not be granted a full pardon.
“Thereafter, Agong proposed that the applicant be granted a 50 percent reduction of the applicant’s prison sentence and fine,” Shamsul said.
Najib’s counsel Shafee Abdullah submitted that the addendum order was valid and exists.
“It has been more than a year (since the order was issued), this addendum order has not been enforced. My client is still in prison, and he should be under house arrest,” he said.
Judge Alice Loke Yee Ching then fixed Jan 5 to deliver the decision.
Lawyer Shafee AbdullahNajib seeks confirmation of document
On Aug 13, the Federal Court remitted the case to the High Court for a hearing on its merits before a new judge, after dismissing the attorney-general’s application for leave to appeal the decision of the Court of Appeal regarding the said addendum.
Najib, 72, is seeking a mandamus order compelling the respondents to confirm and disclose the existence of the purported document dated Jan 29, 2024.
He named the home minister, commissioner-general of Prisons, attorney-general, Pardons Board for the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan, and Putrajaya, minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), director-general of the Legal Affairs Division in the Prime Minister’s Department, and the government of Malaysia as respondents.
The former Pekan MP also sought an order that, if the additional document is proven to exist, all or any of the respondents be compelled to enforce it immediately and transfer him from Kajang Prison to his residence in Kuala Lumpur to serve the remainder of his sentence.
Najib has been serving his sentence at Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022, following his conviction for misappropriating RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd.
The High Court initially sentenced him to 12 years in prison and fined him RM210 million, a decision subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court.
However, his petition for a royal pardon on Sept 2, 2022, resulted in the Pardons Board halving his prison sentence to six years and reducing his fine to RM50 million.
- Bernama

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