Bar is challenging reduction of Najib’s jail sentence last year
PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has reserved its judgment in an appeal by the Malaysian Bar to commence judicial review on the reduction of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s sentence in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.
A three-judge panel, chaired by Justice Lim Chong Fong, fixed Aug 7 for case management to set a date to deliver the decision after hearing submissions from parties here yesterday.
The Bar is appealing against the High Court’s decision on Nov 11 last year, where it ruled that the leave application for judicial review on the Federal Territories Pardons Board’s decision was non-justiciable and frivolous as the decisions of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Pardons Board were part and parcel of one process that culminated with the granting of a pardon by the King.
In the proceedings, Senior Federal Counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi, who appeared for the Attorney General, submitted that the then High Court judge was right when he held the application was non-justiciable and frivolous.
He said the reliefs sought by the appellant were, in effect, an attempt to challenge the prerogative of mercy by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong pursuant to Article 42 of the Federal Constitution.
Meanwhile, lawyer Datuk Yeo Yang Poh, who appeared for the Bar, said the matter brought upon by the appellant was not frivolous and should be ventilated in a proper trial.
“The judicial review application is not to review the power of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong but to challenge the decision of the Pardons Board. It is important for leave to be granted at this stage.
“We pray that the appeal be allowed and the case be remitted to the High Court for a substantive hearing,” he said.
Two other judges on the panel yesterday were Justices Azhahari Kamal Ramli and Leonard David Shim.
On April 26 last year, the Bar filed the leave application seeking, among others, a declaration that the Pardons Board’s decision on Jan 29, 2024, to halve Najib’s prison sentence, which would result in an early release on Aug 23, 2028, is illegal, unconstitutional and invalid.
The Bar is also seeking a declaration that the Pardons Board’s decision to reduce Najib’s fine from RM210mil to RM50mil is illegal, unconstitutional and invalid.
On Nov 11, 2025, then High Court judge Justice Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid (now a Court of Appeal judge) dismissed the leave application.
