Carry out house arrest, settle questions in court, say Najib’s lawyers

The Attorney-General’s Chambers has no power to delay house arrest for former Umno president Najib Razak, and the AGC must take to court any question it has about the house arrest order, Najib’s lawyers said today.

In a statement this evening, the legal firm of Shafee & Co said the commissioner-general of prisons must complete Najib’s release into house arrest without delay, adding that the AGC had no power to hold Najib in Kajang prison in the meantime.

The statement said Najib’s home had been gazetted as a prison, under the authority of the commissioner general of prisons, and that “moving our client there does not take him out of lawful custody, but moves him from one gazetted prison to another”, as provided under the conditional royal pardon.

The statement said every condition of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s order for house arrest had been met, “and there is no lawful reason for our client to remain in Kajang prison a moment longer”.

The AGC was urged to withdraw its statement earlier today calling for a deferral of Najib’s house arrest, saying it amounted to disregard for the king’s order.

Earlier today, the AGC called for Najib to remain in prison and for his house arrest to be deferred pending a review of the conditional pardon and the Order of Discharge granted by the High Court after payment of a RM50 million fine.

The AGC said complex legal questions had arisen concerning the implementation of the pardon and court order, with implications for Najib’s 15-year prison sentence in a separate 1MDB case, which will commence in 2028.

However, Najib’s lawyers said the AGC’s interpretation concerned the effect of the pardon and that it was not “open to the AGC to refuse to carry out the express terms of a royal pardon while it considered its position”.

“The attorney-general has no power to stay the royal prerogative of pardon,” the statement said, describing the attorney-general’s current stand as amounting to contempt and possibly even treason. “Nothing in it provides any basis for keeping our client in Kajang prison,” it said.

The statement said the AGC’s reference to the 1MDB case “changes nothing” and had no bearing on the AGC’s duty to give effect to the pardon in the SRC case.

They questioned why the attorney-general had not raised the legal questions when he attended the pardons board meeting which advised the king on the pardon.

“If he had any concern over its terms, that meeting was the place to raise it. Instead, the AGC raises it for the first time after the fine has been paid,” the legal firm said, adding the AGC had consistently said in public that the only thing standing between Najib and house arrest was payment of the fine.

Umno paid the RM50 million fine today and the High Court issued an Order of Discharge.

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