KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has objected to the Kedah Mentri Besar’s application to challenge the legality of the former’s royal pardon five years ago.
The Prime Minister said Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor’s application concerning the royal pardon, which was granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on May 16, 2018, was beyond the court’s jurisdiction.
Muhammad Sanusi has filed for the Hight Court to decide on several questions of law pertaining to the royal pardon.
The PKR president said the King has the power to grant pardons and that power is permanent and shall remain unaffected.
“There are various cases before the Federal Court and the Court of Appeal that support the legal principle that the court cannot confirm or change the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s decision.
“This includes the decision to grant the royal pardon, which directly proves the court has no jurisdiction to do so,” he said in an affidavit filed through SN Nair at the Alor Setar High Court.
Anwar said Muhammad Sanusi’s application was irrelevant, frivolous, insulting to the powers of the King, and an abuse of the judicial process.
On March 31, Muhammad Sanusi filed the application in the Alor Setar High Court, among others, on the grounds that there was no evidence that the pardon reversed Anwar’s conviction in whole or in part and expunged all previous criminal convictions.
Lawyer Yusfarizal Yusoff, representing Muhammad Sanusi, when contacted by Bernama said case management has been fixed for June 28 in the Alor Setar High Court.
On Dec 13 last year, Anwar filed a defamation lawsuit against Muhammad Sanusi over the latter’s statements linking him to alleged immoral behaviour in a speech in the Jelajah PN Best Tambun campaign.
Anwar claimed that the defamatory statement implied, among others, that he had obtained the royal pardon through fraud and should therefore remain unpardonable.
He said the statements were made with malicious intent to incite public anger and stir up personal hatred against him and Pakatan before the 15th General Election (GE15) last November.
