KUALA LUMPUR — The Federal Court in Putrajaya has allowed the Attorney-General to appeal against Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s attempt to get an addendum order on his home imprisonment enforced.
The apex court’s three member panel today, led by Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Seri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim, was unanimous in granting the AG’s leave application to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision to send Najib’s bid back to the high court to be heard on its merits.
The former prime minister’s bid for judicial review to have the government confirm the existence of the addendum order, and to enforce it, was allowed by the Court of Appeal in a 2-1 decision on Jan 6.
The appellate court had ruled that the case should be heard in the high court, which had earlier dismissed Najib’s application on grounds of hearsay.
Najib is currently serving his jail sentence at Kajang Prison for corruption involving RM42 million in the SRC International case.
The Federal Court set July 1 and 2 to hear the AG’s appeal.
Hasnah, who sat with Federal Court judges Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Datuk Hanipah Farikullah, said the questions raised by the AG are “novel and of public importance”, and had met the threshold requirements for leave to be granted under Section 96 Courts of Judicature Act (CJA) 1964.
Najib began serving his 12-year prison sentence in August 2022 but had the term halved after receiving a royal pardon on Jan 29, 2024. He claims there is a royal addendum order for him to serve the remainder of his sentence under home imprisonment, and has taken the matter to court to compel the government to prove the existence of the order and to enforce it.
Earlier during proceedings, Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah suggested to the three-member bench that a “bigger forum” decide on the whether the AG should be granted leave to appeal, “in view of the importance” of the issue.
In response, Hasnah asked if he was not confident with the bench’s decision to allow the AG leave to appeal.
“Is it because there are three females here? You don’t have any confidence with us?,” she asked Shafee, while stressing the urgency of the hearing.
“We are not allowing any postponement. First and second of July for hearing of the appeal, at 9:30 am,” Hasnah said. – April 28, 2025