The High Court ruled in July last year that affidavits supporting Najib’s claim were inadmissible as evidence because they were hearsay.
Judge Amarjeet Singh had described affidavits filed by Malaysia’s deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and another high-ranking politician from Najib’s party saying they had seen a copy of the royal order as hearsay and said the government had no legal duty to respond to the application.
The former king had halved Najib’s 12-year jail term and cut his RM210 million (US$46.5 million) fine to RM50 million as one of his last official tasks before stepping down on Jan 30 last year.
Najib, 71, was convicted of misappropriating RM42 million belonging to SRC International and is currently serving his sentence at Kajang prison in the state of Selangor.
The charges against Najib, who served as prime minister from 2009 to 2018, involved the transfer of RM42 million from SRC International, a former subsidiary of state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), into his personal bank accounts in 2014 and 2015.
He was found guilty on three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money laundering and one count of abuse of power by the High Court in July 2020, and was sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million before the former king reduced Najib’s jail time and fine.
The former prime minister faces several other cases linked to the financial scandal that was said to be one of the reasons that his Barisan Nasional coalition lost power in the 2018 elections.
