Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has withdrawn his bid for house arrest and his contempt application against former attorney-general Ahmad Terrirudin Salleh.
He filed a Notice of Discontinuance for both cases through Messrs Shafee & Co on April 3.
In the notice dated April 2, his counsel said the former Pekan MP wished to discontinue the matters without liberty to re-file and without any order for costs, without giving further reasons.
This means Najib is not only withdrawing his appeal in the Court of Appeal but is also giving up his right to re-file the case in the future.
His house arrest bid was officially struck out under Rule 9(3) of the Court of Appeal 1994 by Court of Appeal deputy registrar Adilah Mohtar on April 14, while his contempt application was recorded as struck out by deputy registrar Nuur Fatimahtul Zuhra Khairuddin under the same rule on April 9.
Najib’s appeal for house arrest was filed on Dec 24 last year, two days after the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed his judicial review application on Dec 22.
Judge Alice Loke rejected the application after finding that the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s decree, which Najib claimed allowed him to serve the remainder of his jail sentence under house arrest, was invalid under the law.
In her judgment, Loke said the addendum order did not comply with the procedures in Article 42 of the Federal Constitution, which clearly sets out the decision-making process for the powers of pardon.
She added that the exercise of the prerogative of mercy under Article 42 must be carried out in accordance with the stipulated procedures.
Najib filed the judicial review application on April 1, 2024, naming the government, the Pardons Board, Terrirudin and four others as respondents.
This followed the Federal Territories Pardons Board’s decision announced in February that year, which reduced his SRC International sentence from 12 years to six years and cut his RM210 million fine to RM50 million.
Najib claimed there was a supplementary royal decree dated Jan 29, 2024, allowing him to serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest. He sought confirmation of its existence, production of the original copy and enforcement of the order.
His bid first hit a setback when High Court judge Amarjeet Singh dismissed his leave application on July 3, 2024.
That decision was later overturned by the Court of Appeal on Jan 6, 2025, and upheld by the Federal Court on Aug 13, 2025.
Attorney-General Dusuki Mokhtar later confirmed that the addendum order existed during the Federal Court hearing.
Meanwhile, Najib filed a contempt application against Terrirudin on May 21 last year, alleging that during his tenure as attorney-general in 2024, he had refused to reveal the existence of the royal addendum.
Based on a copy of the addendum dated Jan 29, 2024, and an official letter from the Pahang ruler’s office in January this year, Shafee said Terrirudin had direct knowledge of the order by Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.
However, despite this, Terrirudin allegedly instructed his officers to mislead the Kuala Lumpur High Court by claiming the addendum order’s existence was mere speculation and “based on word of mouth”.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers responded by describing the contempt application as “an abuse of process” and said Terrirudin had carried out his duties according to the Federal Constitution.
However, on Sept 4 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court denied Najib leave to pursue the matter, finding that he had failed to establish a prima facie case and that his claim was based on mere speculation with no clear evidence.
The dismissal led to Najib’s appeal filed on Sept 12, the same year before his recent withdrawal.