Zaid urges government to come clean on Najib’s house arrest order

PETALING JAYA: Former law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim is calling on the government to provide answers on the alleged addendum order for Datuk Seri Najib Razak to serve his prison sentence under house arrest.

Zaid, who was Najib's former lawyer, said if there was no such decree from the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, then the government should say so.

"It is a matter of public interest. If a legal impediment is the reason for the non-action, the public should be made aware," he said in an X post on Thursday (April 4).

He added the only question is whether the supplementary order is genuine.

"If it is, then Najib will have much-needed rest at home soon."

The former prime minister had filed an application for leave for judicial review, claiming there was an addendum order by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in the royal pardon granted to him on Jan 29, whereby he was allowed to serve his prison sentence under house arrest.

When asked about the matter on Thursday, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said he had no knowledge of the additional document and had not seen it.

In early March, former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob called on the government to disclose if house arrest was included as part of Najib’s royal pardon application.

The Bera MP raised this when debating the motion of thanks on the Royal Address in Parliament on March 7.

On Feb 2, the Pardons Board announced that it had decided to commute convicted former prime minister Najib’s jail term from 12 years to six.