Former PM Najib Razak wins appeal to have house arrest bid heard in Malaysia High Court

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PUTRAJAYA: Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak’s house arrest appeal bid will have to be heard at the High Court, the Court of Appeal ruled on Monday (Jan 6).

The High Court had in July dismissed Najib’s legal bid for the government to produce an addendum order reportedly issued by former king Al-Sultan Abdullah that allowed Najib to serve the remainder of his reduced six-year sentence at home.

On Monday, the three-member bench of the court came up with a 2-1 split decision that ordered the Kuala Lumpur High Court to hear the merits of the case.

Justices Azhahari Kamal Ramli and Mohd Firuz Jaffril are part of the majority ruling while presiding judge Azizah Nawawi delivered the dissenting ruling not to allow the appeal.

The decision came as hundreds of people including supporters from Najib’s own United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) as well as those from opposition coalition Perikatan Nasional (PN) gathered outside the court in solidarity with the former prime minister. 

Among them included Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan – who held a watching brief in the court – as well as Bersatu deputy president Hamzah Zainuddin and Terengganu chief minister Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar.

Last month, Najib’s legal team attempted to introduce fresh evidence to his bid to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.

His son Nizar Najib had filed an affidavit that purportedly said that the Pahang sultan – who was the then-Agong – had told him about the existence of a royal addendum for the former premier to serve the remainder of his six-year jail sentence for corruption under house arrest.

Earlier on Monday morning, Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah had told the court that the addendum only surfaced recently, after the High Court had dismissed Najib’s judicial review for house arrest in July last year.

He said that the legal team had conducted their due diligence to get the addendum.

“He only got the approval of the previous king to reveal the addendum on Dec 2 (last year) and he came up with an affidavit on the same day,” he said in reference to a letter by the Pahang palace that was purportedly sent to Nizar last month.

Shafee also told the court that Nizar had filed another affidavit claiming that the comptroller of the royal household of the Sultan of Pahang Ahmad Khirrizal Ab Rahman had confirmed the existence of the alleged addendum order, and verified its authenticity in a letter to him on Jan 4.

Shafee had produced the letter in court.

In his arguments, government lawyer Shamsul Bolhassan had told the court that the fresh evidence does not have an important influence on the result of the case and should be dismissed.

He said that the Pardon’s Board on Jan 29 last year had only dealt with the royal advice to discount Najib’s jail sentence and fine, and not with any alleged royal addendum for him to serve the remainder of his jail term under house arrest.

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.

Last month, Najib also began his defence against 25 counts of abuse of power and money in the 1MDB corruption case.

The prosecution closed its case against Najib on May 30 last year, and more than 50 witnesses testified in the past 5 years, with the trial beginning on Aug 28, 2019.

Najib was charged under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act.

The offences carry a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of up to five times the amount or value of the bribe, or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

For the 21 charges of money laundering, Najib is accused of committing the offences between Mar 22, 2013, and Aug 30, 2013.

Najib issued an apology in October that the 1MDB scandal happened during his tenure, but maintained he had no knowledge of illegal transfers from the now-defunct state fund.