Much to say: Shafee speaking during a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex lobby after the ruling on Najib’s bid for house arrest. — FAIHAN GHANI/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s lead lawyer has urged the King and other state Rulers to study the High Court’s judgment on the addendum order which allegedly diminished their power of pardons.
“I call on the Malay Rulers, the Governors and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to have this decision studied as it has a huge impact on their powers,” said Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
“Today’s decision is opening the door for politicians to interfere in a Pardons Board decision,” he told reporters at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex lobby after the judgment was handed down yesterday.
With the judgment, Najib will have to continue serving his jail term at the Kajang Prison.
He is currently serving the sentence imposed by the High Court that found him guilty of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering in relation to RM42mil siphoned from SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary.
In the high-profile SRC case, Najib exhausted his appeals as he failed to overturn his conviction and sentence, hence the application for pardons .
Yesterday, Shafee said that the legal team was shocked by Justice Alice Loke’s decision to dismiss Najib’s application for a judicial review to allow him to serve the remainder of his prison sentence in the SRC International case under house arrest
“The decision has ‘opened the floodgates’.
“(The Rulers) are only obligated to discuss the pardon with the board. They need not decide at the board meeting,” Shafee said.
“Today’s (Monday) decision, however, suggests that every decision must be made in the Pardons Board (meeting).”
He added that the judgment had compromised the powers of pardon by the King.
“We had a series of cases where the court says that the decision by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong regarding pardons cannot be challenged. It is a power of mercy that is unchallengeable.”
He also noted the discrepancy between this case and the pardon of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim which he alleged had flaws.
“As you know in the most recent decision in the Federal Court involving Datuk Seri Anwar which stated that, in his case, the pardon was not proper as the Attorney General was not present and the Pardons Board never met.
“However we have the decision by the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong. And the Federal Court ruled that, when a decision by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on pardons has been made, the courts do not have the power to relook the issue.
“What more in this case when the proceeding of the Pardons Board was opened? This is something that is extraordinary and it disrupts the systems of the institution of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Malay Rulers,” he said.
The lawyer said that all of the alleged discrepancies will be brought up when they appeal the decision in the appellate court.
“We will argue all this in the appeal. Today’s decision showed that the Prisons Department director-general has more power than the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and it is as if logic has turned upside down.
“Of course Datuk Seri Najib Razak is very disappointed. The addendum was in 2024 and it’s going to be two years now.
“This is the order of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and you have delayed it for two years,” he said.
When asked if the former prime minister would instead apply for parole he said that he had not received any such instructions from his client.
“There are other requirements for parole and we are not disclosing it for now. He has mentioned it but has not given instructions,” he said.
