KUALA LUMPUR — The High Court here has set April 28 to hear an application by the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) for a gag order concerning Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s claim on the existence of an addendum order on serving the remainder of his prison sentence under home detention.
Judge Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz, who set the date during the case management today, said the application would be heard at 2.30 pm.
She ordered both parties to file their submissions by April 11 and replies by April 23.
The proceedings today were attended by Senior Federal Counsel Nurhafizza Azizan and Federal Counsel Ainna Sherina Saipol Amin, representing the Attorney General as the third respondent, and lawyers Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee, representing Najib.
On Jan 20, the AGC applied for a gag order, citing that the case involved sensitive issues.
Najib’s bid to have the government prove the existence of, and enforce the addendum order, is back in the high court after the Court of Appeal in a 2-1 decision on Jan 6 remitted the matter back to the lower court for a hearing on its merits.
Najib, 71, had appealed against the high court’s earlier dismissal of his application for leave to commence the judicial review. The high court, presided by Judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh dismissed Najib’s application for leave to commence a judicial review in July last year, ruling that the four affidavits submitted in support of his claim were hearsay and inadmissible.
Najib filed for a mandamus order compelling the respondents to disclose and confirm the existence of the addendum order dated Jan 29, 2024.
He named as respondents the Minister of Home Affairs, Commissioner General of Prisons, Attorney General, Federal Territories Pardons Board (covering Kuala Lumpur, Labuan, and Putrajaya), Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), Director-General of the Legal Affairs Division in the Prime Minister’s Department, and the Government of Malaysia.
The former Pekan MP is also seeking an order that, should the additional document exist, all or any of the respondents must enforce it and immediately transfer him from Kajang Prison to his residence in Kuala Lumpur to serve the remainder of his sentence under home detention.
Najib, who is currently n Kajang Prison, had his original 12-year prison sentence for misappropriating RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd, halved to six years by the Federal Territories Pardons Board on Jan 29, last year.
He began serving his jail sentence on Aug 23, 2022, after he lost his final bid to overturn his conviction at the Federal Court. He filed a petition for royal pardon on Sept 2 the same year. – February 24, 2025