Govt moves to block Bar’s fresh challenge to Najib’s house arrest
Govt moves to block Bar’s fresh challenge to Najib’s house arrest
Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly tells the High Court that the Attorney-General's Chambers needs time to review the cause papers and prepare a reply.
Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly told High Court judge S Indra Nehru today that the government only received the court documents on the Bar’s new legal challenge on Tuesday.
He said the team from the Attorney-General’s Chambers needed time to review the cause papers and prepare a reply.
“We will object to this application because the decision (to grant Najib the conditional pardon) is non-justiciable,” Hanir said.
Lawyer Farhan Shafee, representing Najib, informed the court that they also wanted to file their submissions.
Zainur Zakaria, appearing for the Bar, said they had no objection to the government and Najib seeking time to reply.
The court fixed March 17, 2027 to hear the objections from the government and Najib.
The Bar’s fresh judicial review application was filed the same day Najib began his house arrest.
It named Najib, the Federal Territories Pardons Board (FTPB), the commissioner-general of the prisons department and the law and institutional reform minister as respondents.
The Bar sought to quash the FTPB decision allowing Najib to serve his remaining six years of the SRC International jail sentence under house arrest, on the grounds that the decision was “unconstitutional”.
The latest challenge comes ahead of the Court of Appeal’s Jan 7 decision on a separate appeal by the Bar against the FTPB’s January 2024 decision to reduce Najib’s prison sentence and fine.
Najib, 73, arrived at his home in Jalan Langgak Duta, Taman Duta, on Tuesday night to serve the remainder of his six-year prison sentence in the SRC International case. He had been incarcerated at Kajang prison since Aug 23, 2022.
In January 2024, the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, halved Najib’s 12-year prison sentence and reduced his RM210 million fine to RM50 million under a royal pardon.
In September 2026, the current Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Ibrahim, granted Najib a further conditional pardon, allowing him to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest until Aug 23, 2028.
The RM50 million fine was paid by Umno using funds raised through a public crowdfunding exercise.
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