AG would have lodged police report if addendum did not exist, says lawyer
PUTRAJAYA : The attorney-general would have instructed that a police report be lodged if claims that a royal addendum allegedly allowing former prime minister Najib Razak to serve the remainder of his jail term under house arrest were untrue, a lawyer told the Federal Court today.
Shafee Abdullah said the AG would have instructed his officers to lodge a report for making false claims in court.
'The police report would have been made against Najib, his witnesses and me if the claim was untrue,' Shafee said before a three-member bench chaired by Chief Judge of Malaya Hasnah Hashim.
The AG is appealing to set aside a majority 2-1 ruling on Jan 6 that allowed Najib's application to adduce additional evidence and order the High Court to hear Najib's judicial review.
Najib wants the government to implement the order in the addendum.
Justices Zabariah Yusof and Hanipah Farikullah are also hearing the appeal.
Shafee submitted that Attorney-General Dusuki Mokhtar had earlier in the day conceded that the addendum existed, only that he was disputing its genuineness and validity.
'I hope the bench draws an inference and takes judicial notice of this matter,' he said.
He said Najib got wind of the addendum order soon after the Federal Territories Pardons Board announced in early February last year that his 12-year jail term was halved and the RM210 million fine reduced to RM50 million.
'We sent a letter to the then AG (Ahmad Terrirudin Saleh) instead of the director-general of prisons as the former could give his legal opinion to execute the order in the addendum,' he said.
Shafee said Najib had sent letters to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, his deputy Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the law and institutional reform minister, the prisons department, the Federal Territories Pardons Board, and the director-general of the legal affairs division at the Prime Minister's Department asking them to confirm the existence of the addendum.
'All letters sent went completely unanswered without any single detail provided,' he said, adding in rebuttal to Dusuki's argument that Najib did not immediately attempt to communicate with Istana Negara or Istana Pahang on the addendum order.
He said Najib had to file leave for judicial review last April and relied on affidavits filed by Zahid and Pahang menteri besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail based on what they had read on Tengku Zafrul Aziz's mobile phone.
The High Court refused to grant leave last July because it said affidavits filed in support of Najib's application were hearsay evidence.
Najib's son, Nizar, had filed an affidavit just before the Court of Appeal hearing in support of his father's application to also adduce fresh evidence, which the appellate court allowed.
Shafee said the former Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, informed Nizar about the addendum in early August last year, but did not express his intention to give a copy of the addendum.
'It was only in December last year that he was given one to be used in court. He quickly affirmed an affidavit for Najib to introduce fresh evidence before the Court of Appeal,' he said.
Najib is currently serving a six-year jail sentence in connection with the SRC International case.
The hearing continues on July 9.
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