Royal addendum: Najib's lawyer urges govt to verify docs on social media

Royal addendum: Najib's lawyer urges govt to verify docs on social media

Alyaa Alhadjri
Published: Oct 10, 2024 9:25 PM


A member of Najib Abdul Razak’s legal team has urged the government to confirm the existence of a document purported to be an addendum to a royal pardon that allows the former premier to serve the remaining of his six-year jail term under house arrest.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee said this follows the discovery on social media of what was claimed to be portions of the addendum.

“It is hard for us to verify the authenticity of the document at this stage as what we see are pictures circulated on social media.

“However, now more than ever, it is for the government to first confirm or deny the existence of the addendum which to date has been met with a questionable silence despite repeated calls to answer,” he said when contacted.

Najib had first claimed the existence of the alleged addendum in a judicial review application filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on April 1, which has since been rejected and is under appeal.

According to a copy of the judicial review bid, Najib claimed that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had issued the addendum on Jan 29, the same day as the main partial pardon order.

The former finance minister sought a court order to compel the home minister, the attorney-general, the Pardons Board, the federal government, and a few other respondents to confirm this alleged addendum in the royal pardon that halved his initial 12-year jail sentence over the RM42 million SRC International corruption case.


‘We cannot act’

Farhan (above) said without an official confirmation, lawyers cannot act purely based on the purported first and last page of the alleged document, shared on social media including by accounts believed to be of Umno supporters.

Others who shared the alleged document included Parti Cinta Malaysia president Huan Cheng Guan who demanded government leaders provide a “yes” or “no” answer on the existence of the royal addendum.

The purported front page indicated the document was sent to the Prison Department director-general and “all other intended recipients”.

Farhan said Najib’s legal team should have been included in the list of intended recipients if the purported document was genuine.

“Assuming the document is held to be genuine and it has not been forwarded to our client or acted upon (as legally mandated), this constitutes a willful suppression of our client’s constitutional rights and it raises questions as to what else has been suppressed from our client in his pursuit for a just and fair trial in all his legal matters,” he stressed.


Intrusion of basic rights

Najib in his original application had claimed that the respondents’ disregard of his request for confirmation of the addendum constituted a direct intrusion of his basic rights under the Federal Constitution and also amounted to direct contempt of the Agong.

Najib further alleged that the respondents are trying to conceal the existence of the alleged royal addendum.

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi


Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in an affidavit filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on April 9 supported Najib’s original application.

He had then claimed that on Jan 30 during a meeting in his house at Country Heights, International Trade and Investment Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz informed him of the addendum order dated Jan 29.

The Umno president further claimed that while he did not have a copy of the royal addendum as it was confidential in light of the order not yet being executed, he confirmed that the document is in the possession of the respondents.