PUTRAJAYA, Feb 12 — Imprisoned former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will be applying to ask the High Court to cite former attorney general Tan Sri Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh for contempt, Najib’s lawyer said today.
Najib’s lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said the action for contempt of court would be filed against Terrirudin by tomorrow or by this Friday at the latest.
“I have got instructions from Datuk Seri Najib to file an action for contempt of court against the former attorney general, who is now Tan Sri Terrirudin, who now sits in the Federal Court,” he said during a press conference at the Putrajaya court complex.
Shafee said one of the reasons why his client wants Terrirudin to be cited for contempt is because the Attorney General’s Chambers had disputed in court about the existence of an alleged “addendum” or add-on order for Najib to be placed under house arrest.
Najib had been serving a 12-year jail sentence in Kajang Prison since August 2022 after being convicted in the RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd case, but the Federal Territories Pardons Board in February 2024 announced its January 29, 2024 decision to reduce his jail time to six years.
Najib has been claiming that the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong had made an additional document or “addendum” to the Pardons Board’s decision, to order that he serve the rest of his jail time in house arrest instead of in prison.
In April 2024, Najib filed a court challenge — through a judicial review application — to ask the court to compel the Malaysian government and the Pardons Board to verify the alleged “house arrest” addendum exists and to enforce it by putting him under house arrest.
As Najib’s court challenge was through a judicial review application, he had to get the High Court’s leave or nod for his court case to be heard.
As this was at the leave stage, AGC officers appeared at court on behalf of the AG, instead of on behalf of the Malaysian government and Pardons Board.
The attorney general had objected to the High Court giving leave for Najib to continue with his court challenge, but Shafee said then AG Terrirudin had alleged acted in contempt of court by not telling the court that the addendum exists.
Shafee referred to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s recent statement that then AG Terrirudin had received the alleged addendum, and that Terrirudin had sent the addendum to the 17th and current Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Shafee claimed that the former Agong’s alleged addendum for Najib’s house arrest is a royal “decree” that should have been enforced instead of being sent to the next Agong.
As for why Najib feels that former AG Terrirudin is in contempt of court, Shafee said this was because the AG was silent at the High Court about the existence of the alleged addendum and as the AGC had challenged Najib to prove that the addendum actually exists.
“So you imagine if you have the addendum, you have seen the addendum, you can’t be instructing your officers to say that you object because there is no proof that the addendum exists,” Shafee said, adding that his client feels the former AG had not been honest or candid over this matter.
Shafee said this is because a judicial review application seeks to hold the government accountable and the government would have a duty to be candid in such court cases.
“They cannot play hide and seek. They cannot say, ‘you prove, if you cannot prove, I won’t do it’. Because you are not an ordinary litigant, you are the government. So given that, we are saying there is contempt,” he said.
Shafee said Najib’s lawyers would serve Terrirudin the court papers to seek to cite him for contempt, and that it would be up to the latter to either defend himself personally or through others.
Shafee said Najib’s lawyers had previously issued a show cause letter to Terrirudin, claiming that the latter had replied to say that he is not guilty and that he does not have a duty to disclose at the leave stage.
Currently, the High Court has yet to decide on the existence and validity of the purported addendum for Najib to be put under house arrest.
Shafee said the High Court has yet to fix the hearing dates for both the court challenge on the addendum and for the Malaysian government’s application for a gag order on the purported addendum until the court case ends.
