PUTRAJAYA – The Federal Court has dismissed the Attorney General’s Chambers’ appeal to halt Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s judicial review on a royal addendum decree allowing him to serve his sentence under house arrest.
The decision paves the way for Najib to proceed with his High Court bid to enforce the order.
The ruling was delivered by a three-member panel led by Chief Judge of Malaya, Tan Sri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim, sitting alongside Federal Court judges Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Datuk Hanipah Farikullah.
While delivering the judgment, Justice Zabariah said that the validity of the Addendum Order was a matter that needed to be decided at the trial stage in the High Court.
“It would be unfair for us to express any view on this matter at this stage. [It needs] to be examined in more detail in full [proceedings] at the inter-partes stage,” she said when delivering the decision, which took over an hour.
Najib is currently serving his sentence in Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022, after being convicted of misappropriating RM42 million belonging to SRC International Sdn Bhd.
On Jan 6 this year, the Court of Appeal, in a 2-1 majority decision, returned the case to the High Court for a hearing on its merits after allowing Najib’s appeal against the High Court’s decision to reject his application for leave to initiate judicial review.
Najib, 71, is seeking a mandamus order to compel the respondents to provide an answer and confirm the existence of the additional document dated Jan 29 last year.
He has named the Home Minister, the Commissioner General of Prisons, the Attorney General, the Federal Territories Pardons Board for Kuala Lumpur, Labuan, and Putrajaya, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), the Director-General of the Legal Affairs Division in the Prime Minister’s Department, and the Government of Malaysia as respondents.
The former Pekan MP is also seeking an order that, if the additional document exists, all or any of the respondents must implement it and immediately transfer him from Kajang Prison to his residence in Kuala Lumpur to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest.
On July 3 last year, Justice Datuk Amarjeet Singh, in dismissing Najib’s application for leave to commence judicial review, ruled that four affidavits supporting Najib’s claim — including statements by UMNO president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and UMNO vice-president Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail — were merely hearsay and inadmissible as evidence in court.
Najib, who has been serving his sentence in Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022, after being convicted of misappropriating RM42 million belonging to SRC International Sdn Bhd, filed a petition for royal pardon on Sept 2, 2022.
The High Court had earlier sentenced him to 12 years in prison and a fine of RM210 million, and the decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court after dismissing Najib’s appeals.
The Pardons Board, however, reduced Najib’s prison sentence from 12 years to six years, while the fine was reduced from RM210 million to RM50 million. — August 13, 2025
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