KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 24 — After a public statement from Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s son, Datuk Mohamad Nizar, his sister Nooryana Najwa has also weighed in.
In a Facebook post late last night, Nooryana claimed that the family had spent three months trying to get confirmation from the authorities on the status and enforceability of the royal addendum, before Najib filed his court bid in April 2024 to seek to enforce the former Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s add-on order for house arrest.
Nooryana also alleged that Najib’s letters to the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) and relevant ministries and agencies in early 2024 about the house arrest order had gone unanswered.
She said her father had been reluctant to bring the matter to court.
“Even at this stage, he was still reluctant to bring this matter to court, as he was aware that when it is disclosed publicly, sensitivities would arise, given that attempts to obscure the truth already exist. To what lengths would the parties who do not want the addendum disclosed go to deny DSN his rights and in that process, challenge the foundational pillars of our nation?” she said, referring to her father Najib as DSN.
Taking the matter to the courts was, Nooryana said, her father’s last resort.
Najib filed his judicial review application at the High Court in April 2024 to enforce the former Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s add-on order for house arrest.
She said Najib had went through a lengthy court process of close to two years (which included case managements, postponements, getting leave or the courts’ nod for the judicial review to proceed), only to be told by the court that the royal addendum for Najib’s house arrest exists but is not valid.
She said Najib would not have to file his court bid for house arrest, if the authorities had told him the addendum for house arrest exists but cannot be enforced.
“If the relevant authorities had replied DSN’s letters in January / February 2024 by saying — yes, we received a royal decree but we do not believe it can be enforced due to certain reasons — it would certainly save DSN the time and costs that had to be borne to bring this matter to court,” Nooryana said.
In August this year, the Federal Court had granted Najib leave to proceed with his court case, and noted that the attorney general had conceded that the addendum order exists.
But the Federal Court had said the addendum order’s existence did not automatically make it valid, and left it to the High Court to decide if the house arrest order was valid based on the Federal Constitution.
On Monday, High Court judge Alice Loke Yee Ching had decided that Najib could not finish the rest of his sentence under house arrest, as the former Agong’s add-on or addendum order for house arrest was invalid and cannot be carried out: “The addendum order was not deliberated nor decided in the 61st Pardons Board meeting. There was no compliance with Article 42, consequently it is not a valid order.”
The High Court had said that the then Agong’s addendum order for house arrest has to comply with the procedures in the Federal Constitution’s Article 42, as the ruler is a “constitutional monarch” who exercises his powers of mercy according to the Constitution.
