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THE Putrajaya Court of Appeal has granted leave to Datuk Seri Najib Razak for a judicial review over the existence of an addendum order.
In a split ruling, a three-member Court of Appeal bench also allowed Najib’s application to adduce new evidence when the merits of the case are heard in the High Court.
Judge Datuk Azizah Nawawi ordered the matter be reverted to the Kuala Lumpur High Court for a hearing of the merits of the judicial review.
Azizah delivered the dissenting ruling denying the appeal, while the majority ruling was by fellow appellate member judges Datuk Azhahari Kamal Ramli and Datuk Seri Mohd Firuz Jaffril.
The order was purportedly issued by the former Yang di-Pertuan Agong, allowing Najib to serve the remainder of his jail sentence under house arrest.
Najib is seeking a mandamus order to compel the respondents to provide a response and verify the existence of the alleged additional decree dated January 29, 2024.
Justice Firuz Jaffril said Najib had fulfilled the criteria in Ladd & Marshall to introduce new evidence.
He also said that the government had not provided any compelling rebuttal to the evidence adduced by Najib.
Najib is currently serving a six-year prison sentence after being convicted of misappropriating RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd.
The High Court had sentenced him to 12 years in prison with a fine of RM210 million, and the verdict was subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal and Federal Court.
However, his prison sentence was halved to six years and his fine was reduced to RM50 million following his petition for a royal pardon on Sept 2, 2022.- January 6, 2025
