JAILED former prime minister Najib Razak has filed a judicial review to challenge the Prison Department’s decision to reject his request to attend parliament, Malay Mail reported. 

Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee said the judicial review was filed at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon at around 1pm. 

“Effectively it seeks for two things: For Najib to have access to his parliamentary officers in order for him to do his work as an MP; and for him to attend parliament on the scheduled dates,” he told the news portal today.

Najib has named the government of Malaysia, the home minister, and the commissioner-general of prison as the respondents in the judicial review. 

He is seeking to attend Dewan Rakyat, which sits from October 3 to November 9, where Budget 2023 will be tabled. 

Najib has been in Kajang Prison since August 23, after the Federal Court upheld his 12-year prison sentence for misappropriating SRC International funds. Najib has further 1Malaysia Development Bhd-related cases pending.  

On Monday, Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said the Prison Department had rejected imprisoned former prime minister Najib Razak’s request to attend parliament.

He said the director-general of prisons had rejected the application due to security reasons. 

Last month, Najib applied to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah for a pardon. 

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun confirmed that Najib would remain the MP for Pekan until the completion of his pardon process and review at the Federal Court. – October 5, 2022.