KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s government has launched a challenge to the Court of Appeal’s recent ruling regarding Najib Razak’s bid for house arrest.
The government has filed a motion seeking permission to appeal to the Federal Court against the Court of Appeal’s move to grant the former prime minister leave to initiate judicial review proceedings to serve the remainder of his six-year sentence at home.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) confirmed in a statement on Wednesday (Feb 5) that the application was submitted on Tuesday, according to local media reports.
“The AGC believes that this step is not only important to ensure justice in this case, but also to uphold the principle of rule of law and clarify the interpretation for the benefit of all parties,” said the chambers, as quoted by local news platform Free Malaysia Today.
The AGC highlighted that the Court of Appeal’s decision was reached through a split ruling, reflecting differing interpretations of the law among the three-member panel.
It also said that the case involved significant legal questions of public interest and so needed to be answered by the apex court.
On Jan 6, the Court of Appeal granted Najib leave to pursue his legal bid for house arrest.
The decision came after Najib’s lawyer produced a purported letter from the Pahang state palace confirming the existence of a royal decree issued by Pahang Sultan and former Malaysia king Al-Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah allowing Najib to serve the rest of his jail sentence at home.
The former prime minister had his 12-year sentence for corruption halved in a pardon by Sultan Abdullah just before he stepped down as king.
Justices Firuz Jaffril and Azhahari Kamal Ramli held that the High Court’s previous finding in July that Najib’s affidavits were based on hearsay evidence could no longer stand following new evidence.
Najib hailed the Court of Appeal’s decision to overturn the dismissal of his attempt to access the royal addendum as “one step forward”.
In January, the AGC also sought a gag order to ban public discussion of Najib’s judicial review claim that such a royal document existed.
Current prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has said that the document was sent to the attorney-general and not to him nor any other member of the Pardons Board.
In an application in April last year, Najib said he had clear information that the then-king had issued an addendum order allowing him to finish his sentence under house arrest.
He claimed the addendum was issued during a pardons board meeting on Jan 29 last year, the same day his initial 12-year sentence was halved from 12 years to six years and his fine reduced from RM210 million (US$44.5 million) to RM50 million.
Najib was found guilty in 2020 of criminal breach of trust and abuse of power for illegally receiving funds misappropriated from a unit of state investor 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). He is on trial for corruption in several other 1MDB-linked cases and denies wrongdoing.
