No automatic right to sit in Dewan

PETALING JAYA: The Prisons Department has the sole discretion to decide whether or not to allow jailed MP Datuk Seri Najib Razak to attend Parliament, say senior lawyers.

Alhtough Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun has ruled that Najib is still Pekan MP and that his seat is not vacated, it did not automatically mean that Najib could attend Parliament, said Mohamed Haniff Khatri.

Azhar had stated Najib would remain Pekan MP until the disposal of his motion for review in the Federal Court and his petition for a pardon.

The lawyer cited a similar case when DAP politician M. Manoharan won the Kota Alam Shah state seat in the 2008 elections.

At the time, Manoharan was being detained under the Internal Security Act without trial for being a Hindraf activist.

Although he was the state assemblyman, Monaharan was not taken by the Prisons Department to attend the Selangor state legislative assembly meetings.

“It was hotly debated but the prison’s decision was made because the prisoner’s safety was their responsibility and they couldn’t take them here and there willy nilly,” said Haniff.

He also said that Najib, who is currently serving a 12-year sentence, is already being brought to court for a number of criminal trials while in prison, so letting him go to Parliament would make logistics difficult to organise.

“What will happen if his safety is compromised? The Prisons Department will have to answer,” he said, adding that Najib could challenge the department’s decision in court.

Meanwhile, Datuk Dr Baljit Singh Sidhu said the Prisons Department was bound by strict protocols and regulations when taking a prisoner off prison grounds.

For instance, to produce a prisoner in court, an order must be served on the Prisons Department, which will then arrange to take the convict to court, he said.

“They don’t allow someone to be out of prison for reasons such as going on holiday, visiting places or travelling to their constituency,” he said.

Baljit added that there had also been a precedent in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s case, when the Prisons Department rejected an application by his family for the opposition leader to attend Parliament on March 9, 2015.

At the time, Anwar, who was Permatang Pauh MP, was serving a five-year jail sentence after his conviction for sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan was upheld by the Federal Court.

“Najib has also already exhausted his appeals process and is now waiting for the possibility of being given a royal pardon for his 12-year jail sentence.

“His lawyer can file a judicial review against the department’s decision, but it will be up to the court to decide whether to allow it or not.

“It will be interesting to see the outcome,” he said.

On Monday, Najib’s lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, said the Prisons Department had rejected the former prime minister’s request to attend Parliament proceedings for “security” reasons.

Shafee said that after receiving the response, he also wrote to Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin on the same day, asking him to look into the matter.