KUALA LUMPUR: The Prisons Department must facilitate the release of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to commence his house arrest, say his lawyers.
Law firm Messrs Shafee & Co said that it rejected the statement issued by the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) to temporarily suspend the house arrest.
“On Sept 18, the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department, which is the secretariat to the Pardons Board, announced the pardon.
“It said that our client would serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest, subject to payment of the RM50mil fine.
“It raised no question of interpretation. It is of note that the phrase, which the AGC now says raises a ‘legal question’, is the government’s own wording.
“The AGC raised no question over that wording for seven weeks until the fine was paid,” the law firm said in a statement last night.
It added that every condition for house arrest had been met and the process to release its client was already underway before the AGC issued its statement.
“Our client’s residence is now a prison under the Prisons Act 1995, under the authority of the Commissioner General of Prisons. Moving our client there does not take him out of lawful custody.
“It moves him from one gazetted prison to another, as His Majesty has ordered.
“It is therefore illogical for the AGC, on the same day that the gazette declared our client’s residence a prison, to insist that he remain in Penjara Kajang while it seeks clarification,” the firm said.
It also said the 1MDB case did not change anything.
“That case is the subject of its own proceedings, including a pending appeal and its term of imprisonment cannot take effect until the SRC imprisonment is spent and has no bearing on the AGC’s duty to give effect to the pardon in the SRC case.
“They also said the power of pardon belongs to the King alone and that the pardon is directed to the Commissioner General of Prisons, not the AG.
“We call on the Commissioner General of Prisons to complete our client’s release into house arrest without delay.
“We also call onto the AG to withdraw the statement immediately,” it said, adding that if there was any question over the order, it should be taken to court.
