Gag order bid in Najib’s
addendum case for hearing
in April
Justice Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz says she will also set a hearing date on the judicial review substantive hearing after disposal of the gag order proceedings.
Justice Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz, who held a case management today, also gave the parties directions on the filing of affidavits and submissions, which are to be completed by April 23.
She said the hearing of the judicial review substantive application will be fixed after the disposal of the gag order application.
Senior federal counsel Nurhafizza Azizan and federal counsel Ainna Sherina Saiful Amin represented the seven respondents – the home minister, the commissioner-general of the prisons department, the attorney-general, the Federal Territories Pardons Board, the law and institutional reform minister, and the director-general of the Prime Minister’s Department’s legal affairs division, and the government.
Lawyers Shafee Abdullah and Farhan Shafee appeared for Najib, who is currently serving his jail sentence at Kajang prison for corruption in the SRC International case.
Najib, who is opposing the government’s application for a gag order, said there was no proof that national security would be threatened if it was not in place.
He also said that to date, no one had made any seditious remarks against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or the royal institution over the addendum issue.
On Jan 6, the Court of Appeal, in a majority decision, granted Najib leave to initiate judicial review proceedings to compel the government to execute a supplementary decree issued by the previous king, Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.
As a result, the case has been remitted to the High Court for the application to be heard on its merits.
However, the government is seeking a gag order to restrain the public from discussing Najib’s addendum case.
At the same time, the attorney-general has also sought leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal ruling.
The application was made after a three-member Court of Appeal panel produced a split decision.
The attorney-general has filed six questions of law to persuade the Federal Court to hear why Najib should have been refused leave for judicial review.
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