KUALA LUMPUR – Kelantan Umno is demanding an explanation from the government about its alleged refusal to enforce a royal addendum order for Datuk Seri Najib Razak to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest.
State party chief Datuk Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub said it was a serious matter that the federal government was named as a respondent in the former prime minister’s judicial review application to prove the existence of the order and to execute it.
“This matter is very serious because the respondent will be seen to be ‘playing’ with the royal order.
“The people need to know the government’s position and want an explanation from a legal point of view so that there will be no more disputes,” Jazlan said in a statement.
He was commenting on an affidavit by Umno president and deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who confirmed the existence of the addendum order.
Jazlan highlighted Zahid’s admission in the affidavit that he knew Najib was filing his judicial review because the respondents named had refused to answer or confirm the order’s existence, had also refused to execute or enforce it, and refused to provide the original version or a copy of the house arrest order to Najib’s lawyers when requested.
The addendum order is allegedly dated February 29, the same date when the Federal Territories Pardons Board met and decided to halve Najib’s prison sentence for corruption involving SRC International from 12 to six years, and reduce his RM210-million fine to RM50 million.
Najib is seeking to have the government and six other respondents confirm the addendum order exists – and if so, to execute the order, provide original copies of it and discuss any necessary reliefs the court deems fit.
Besides the government, other respondents named are the home minister, the commissioner-general of prisons, the attorney-general, the Federal Territories Pardons Board, the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (law and institutional reform), as well as the director-general of the legal affairs division in the Prime Minister’s Department.
In his affidavit dated April 9, Zahid said that Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz had told him of the addendum order, and had shown him a copy of it on his phone that was photographed or scanned from the original bearing the royal seal and signature of the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
However, Tengku Zafrul has said he plans to file his own affidavit to correct “certain factual errors” in Zahid’s affidavit.
Jazlan, meanwhile, said Kelantan Umno supported Zahid in his “fight” to defend Najib.
Earlier, Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh and former supreme council member Isham Jalil said the government should come clean on the addendum order, more so after Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail denied any knowledge of it. – April 17, 2024