FORMER prime minister Najib Razak has filed an appeal for his international passport to be returned to him temporarily, lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said.

Najib’s lawyers had filed the appeal at the Court of Appeal and the case will be heard on Monday.

“We will appeal to the court on Monday for his passport to be returned so he could fly to Singapore,” Shafee told The Malaysian Insight.

It is learnt that Najib is looking to accompany his wife, Rosmah Mansor, who will be going to Singapore to be with her daughter, who is expected to give birth to her second child in the city state.

Earlier today, the Kuala Lumpur High Court agreed to return Rosmah’s passport temporarily to facilitate her travel to Singapore.

Najib’s passport was seized by the authorities following his arrest and subsequent corruption charges related to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal in 2018.

He was later found guilty of all seven charges of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering in relation to the RM42 million belonging to SRC International Sdn Bhd.

Najib was sentenced by the High Court to 10 years’ jail on each of the three counts of CBT and each of the three counts of money laundering, and 12 years’ jail and a RM210 million fine, in default of five years’ jail, in the case of abuse of position on July 28 last year.

However, he will only serve 12 years in jail as the judge ordered that all the jail sentences run concurrently. He is now appealing against them.

At the High Court this morning, Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan granted Rosmah’s appeal and barred her from staying in Singapore for more than a month.

“The applicant’s passport will be released today and must be returned before December 6.

“This is on the condition that the applicant can only travel to Singapore starting October 22 and must return to Malaysia on or before November 21,” Zaini said.

Rosmah filed a motion on Tuesday asking for her passport to be returned so that she could be with their pregnant daughter Nooryana Najwa.

Nooryana resides in Singapore with her husband, Daniyar Kessikbayev, a Kazakhstan national.

In her application, Rosmah said Nooryana had a history of complications during delivery, and that she wanted to be with her daughter to provide mental and emotional support.

 Rosmah, 69, will take the stand on October 21 before departing for Singapore the following day.

She faces a charge of soliciting RM187.5 million in bribes and two charges of receiving RM6.5 million graft from Jepak Holdings managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin through her former aide Rizal Mansor as inducement to help the company land an RM1.25 billion government contract for an integrated hybrid solar photovoltaic system project and maintenance and operation for 369 rural schools in Sarawak. – October 15, 2021.