Court of Appeal Hears Home Detention Appeal, Najib Submits Additional Evidence for Supplementary Order

The Court of Appeal on Monday (January 5) morning heard the appeal filed by former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib regarding the alleged supplementary order for home detention, initially listening to the defense's application to submit additional evidence.

The panel of three judges, led by Datuk Azizah, Datuk Azahar, and Datuk Seri Mohamad Fuzi, listened to the submission by Najib's lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee.

Najib applied to present additional evidence to support his claim of a supplementary order that allegedly allows him to serve the remainder of his prison sentence via home detention.

After the submission, the Court of Appeal began hearing Najib's appeal against the High Court's decision on July 3, 2024. Najib seeks the government's confirmation on whether the 16th King Sultan Abdullah had issued royal approval for a supplementary order for him to serve his sentence at home, which was previously dismissed by the High Court.

High Court Judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh dismissed the application based on all supporting affidavits, including those filed by UMNO President Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid and Vice President Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy, which were deemed hearsay.

71-year-old Najib filed the judicial review application in April 2024, listing the Minister of Home Affairs, the Director of the Prisons Department, the Attorney General, and the Federal Territories Pardon Board of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform), the Director of the Legal Affairs Division in the Prime Minister's Department, and the Malaysian Government as the first to seventh respondents.

Najib demands a court order mandating any or all of the respondents to confirm and verify the existence of the supplementary order dated January 29, 2024.

The applicant also seeks another court order that, should this supplementary order exist, any or all respondents must immediately execute it, transferring the applicant from Kajang Prison to his residence in Kuala Lumpur to complete the remaining sentence via home detention.

Following the Federal Court's dismissal of Najib's final appeal on August 23, 2022, upholding his conviction for embezzling 42 million ringgit from SRC International, he has been serving his sentence in Kajang Prison since that date. He subsequently filed for pardon on September 2, 2022.

The Pardon Board reduced Najib's prison sentence from 12 years to 6 years and the fine from 210 million ringgit to 50 million ringgit.