Leave application raised novel legal issues warranting judicial examination.
The Malaysian Bar argues that the High Court erred in refusing leave for its judicial review against the Federal Territories Pardons Board’s decision to reduce Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s jail term and fine in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.
It stated this in its memorandum of appeal filed through Messrs Amir & Rajpal Ghai last month, claiming Justice Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid wrongly dismissed its leave application on the sole ground of non-justiciability.
The Bar contends that the leave application raised novel legal issues warranting judicial examination.
“The judge erred in summarily dismissing the applicant’s (Bar) contentions that Article 40(1A), introduced into the Federal Constitution on 24 June 1994, significantly changed the law,” it stated.
According to the Malaysian Bar, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s constitutional function to grant pardons was previously considered a “royal prerogative” exercised at the monarch’s discretion without obligation to accept the Pardons Board’s advice.
“The amendment now requires the King to ‘accept and act under’ the advice of the Pardons Board.
“The previously found element of personal discretion and prerogative has thus been removed,” it said.
On 11 November, the High Court dismissed the Malaysian Bar’s leave application for judicial review of the Pardons Board’s decision.
Justice Ahmad Kamal (now a Court of Appeal judge) ruled that the application was non-justiciable and frivolous, as the decisions of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Pardons Board formed part of a single process culminating in the King’s granting of a pardon.
The Malaysian Bar filed the leave application on 26 April last year, naming the Pardons Board of the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan, and Putrajaya, along with Najib, as respondents.
It seeks a declaration that the Board’s decision on 29 January last year to halve Najib’s prison sentence, allowing for early release on 23 August 2028, is illegal, unconstitutional, and invalid.
Additionally, it seeks a declaration that the Board’s reduction of Najib’s fine from RM210 million to RM50 million is illegal, unconstitutional, and invalid.
Former prime minister Najib, 71, has been serving his sentence at Kajang Prison since 23 August 2022, following his conviction for misappropriating RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd.
He filed a royal pardon petition on 2 September 2022, which led to the Pardons Board’s decision to reduce his prison term from 12 years to six years and his fine from RM210 million to RM50 million.