THE Kuala Lumpur High Court today set July 3 to decide on Najib Razak’s bid to compel the federal government and the Pardons Board to produce a royal “supplementary order” allowing him to serve the remainder of his six-year jail sentence at home.

High Court judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh Serjit Singh rescheduled the verdict after the court fixed today for a decision on Najib’s application for leave to seek judicial review.

Senior federal counsels Ahmad Hanir Hambaly@Arwi and Shamsul Bolhassan appeared on behalf of the federal government and the Pardons Board, while Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah represented Najib.

The court earlier allowed an application by the former prime minister to submit two additional affidavits to support his application to commence judicial review over the alleged royal addendum order.

The two affidavits were from Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, which acknowlegded the existence of such a royal order, and the other from Najib, which cited a speech by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim saying the federal government would not question the authority of the former Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who was the Pardons Board chair.

Hanir said the court, after hearing submissions from both parties in chambers, allowed Najib’s application despite objections from the Attorney General’s Chambers over the last-minute filing of the affidavits.

Shafee later confirmed that court has accepted the affidavits.

Wan Rosdy’s affidavit was filed on May 21, while Najib’s was filed on May 23, nearly a month after submissions were heard.

Wan Rosdy, in his affidavit, said he was informed of the royal addendum order by Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz on January 30.  Wan Rosdy, an Umno vice-president, said he did not have a copy of the addendum order because of the secrecy surrounding it.

Najib filed the application for leave for judicial review on April 1.

He named the home minister, commissioner general of prisons, attorney-general, Federal Territories Pardons Board, law and institutional reform minister at the Prime Minister’s Department, director-general of legal affairs in the Prime Minister’s Department, and the government as the respondents.

In the application, Najib alleged he received confirmation on February 12 about the issuance of a supplementary order from the previous that would allow him to serve his reduced prison sentence under house arrest instead of in Kajang Prison. – June 6, 2024