KUALA LUMPUR – Bits of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s speech delivered at PKR’s 25th anniversary convention are now being used by Datuk Seri Najib Razak in his application for leave for judicial review on his house arrest order.
In Najib’s latest affidavit filed at the high court here on May 25, the 70-year-old former prime minister claimed that Anwar’s speech touched on the leave application.
He also questioned Anwar’s reluctance to deny the existence of the addendum order, which may indirectly prove that it exists.
He added that Anwar’s speech had a bearing on his leave application, which was made on April 1.
“It is evident that Anwar was not referring to the main pardon order in his speech at all but he was attempting to question the validity of the addendum order but avoiding mentioning the order by name.
“It is clear, from the speech, that Anwar was erroneously advised by the attorney-general that such an order could not have been valid unless specifically discussed and advised during the Pardons Board meeting with the sultan of Pahang (who was then the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong).
“The reasonable inference that one can take with regard to Anwar’s speech is that he was referring to Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s affidavit, which became the subject that caused him to be attacked about. Zahid’s affidavit wholly and exclusively dealt with the existence and the content of the addendum order.
“Anwar also averred that he had also ‘acquired’ some ‘facts’ from the King about the matter,” Najib claimed.
“Most importantly, the speech fortifies my counsels’ contention that if Anwar saw fit to skirt around the issue of legality of such an order, why not deny its very existence, if truly, it did not exist?”
He said Anwar’s circuitous way in speaking about the order in his speech brought the strongest inference of its very existence.
Najib added that he was recently made aware of Anwar’s speech prior to filing his latest affidavit, due to his current imprisonment and severe limitations that caused him to be “lacking in privilege to surf the internet or interrogate other forms of social media”.
“I have come to know of Anwar’s very helpful speech only about 10 days earlier (than May 25) but needed more time to consult with my solicitors and to confirm the authenticity of the said speech.
“It is well established now that the speech is authentic.”
The former Pekan MP also said, in his affidavit, that his counsel had just received the main order of his commuted sentence, as announced by the Pardons Board in February this year.
“This is the first instance of any response I have received from any of the respondents, but only with regard to the main order and no response whatsoever on the addendum order.
“The main order explicitly outlines the duty of the second respondent (Prisons’ Department commissioner-general) to produce and serve me the main order, as I am the affected party.
“This clearly establishes the second respondent’s legal duty and function in ensuring that any decision emanating from the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong in his capacity as the Pardons Authority must be served on me as the affected prisoner, without any discretion of the Prison Authority.”
He also stated that the rest of the respondents too had the duty and function to ensure that any order as such would be received by him through the proper channel.
“I contend that as the addendum order is now clearly proven to exist (and) the Pardons Authority, through the fourth to sixth respondents, have a duty in law to likewise transmit the order to the second respondent, in order for the latter to serve it on me.
“The respondents cannot, on their own, decide to ignore the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s addendum order. The clumsy attempt to conceal this order is disingenuous.”
Prior to the latest filing, Najib had filed his first and second affidavit on April 1 and supplementary affidavit on April 3.
Other supplementary affidavits filed and accepted by the court for this leave application include Zahid’s and one by Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail.
In their affidavits, Zahid and Wan Rosdy claimed to have seen the addendum order, as informed and shown to them by Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz on January 30.
The court has previously dismissed Tengku Zafrul’s bid to file his own affidavit to correct certain “factual errors” in Zahid’s affidavit.
Earlier today, Najib’s counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah confirmed that the high court would deliver its decision on Najib’s leave application on July 3.
Najib filed the leave application on April 1, seeking to compel the government to confirm the existence of the addendum order.
He named the home minister, the commissioner-general of prisons, the attorney-general, the Federal Territories Pardons Board, the government, the law minister and the director-general of the legal affairs division in the Prime Minister’s Department as respondents.
Najib, currently serving a sentence for corruption in the SRC International case, requested the respondents to confirm the addendum order’s existence.
If the order exists, he seeks its execution, the provision of original copies, and any other relief the court deems appropriate.
The Pardons Board halved his prison sentence from 12 years to six and reduced his fine from RM210 million to RM50 million during its meeting on January 29. – June 5, 2024