‘Deny the existence of house arrest order for Najib, and we can all go back home and sleep’

Lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, the lead counsel for Datuk Seri Najib Razak, has dared the government to outrightly deny the existence of an addendum to the Pardons Board’s decision to reduce his client’s sentence which allows the former prime minister to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest.

(NST) – Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s lead counsel has dared the government to deny the existence of an addendum order allowing his client to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.

Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said he was baffled by the government’s stance to deny the existence of the addendum order to the Pardons Board decision to reduce Najib’s sentence from the former king by skirting the issue instead.

“If you (the government) say there is no addendum, we do not waste our time.

“If the government dares to openly say there is no addendum, we can all go back home and sleep. There would be no need to make any more noise.

“Why isn’t the government daring enough to say this? Someone must be hiding a lot of things,” he said at the Kuala Lumpur court complex here.

Shafee was speaking to reporters after High Court judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh had dismissed Najib’s bid for a judicial review of the addendum order.

Earlier, Amarjeet, when dismissing the legal bid, said all affidavits filed to support Najib’s case, including those by Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and vice-president Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, were hearsay.

The deputy prime minister had claimed the document was shown to him by former Selangor Umno treasurer Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz at his house near Country Heights on Jan 30.

Zahid’s contention was supported by Wan Rosdy when the Pahang menteri besar in his supporting affidavit also said Tengku Zafrul had told him of the document’s existence dated Jan 29.

However, the judge, in his ruling, said Zahid’s statements were purely hearsay as his belief and source of information were based solely on what he heard from Tengku Zafrul, with no direct knowledge of the addendum order.

Shafee said earlier Najib had instructed him to file an appeal on the High Court ruling.

In April, Najib filed a judicial review to establish the existence of the addendum order dated January 29, issued by the former Yang di-Pertuan Agong, which he claims the government has kept silent about.

He named the Home Minister, Prison Department commissioner general, attorney-general (AG), Federal Territories Pardons Board, minister in the prime minister’s department (law and institutional reform), Legal Affairs Division director-general, and the government as respondents.

On Jan 29, the Federal Territories Pardons Board, which the then King presided over, halved Najib’s 12-year jail sentence for abuse of power and criminal breach of trust in the SRC International case and reduced his RM210 million fine to RM50 million.