DATUK Seri Najib Razak is seeking to amend his judicial review application to include a letter allegedly from the Pahang Royal Council that supports the existence of a royal addendum allowing him to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest.
The High Court has fixed 19 September to hear Najib’s application to admit the letter as new evidence, alongside the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ (AGC) bid for a gag order barring public discussion of the purported royal decree.
The letter, dated 4 January 2024 and addressed to Najib’s son Datuk Mohamad Nizar – a member of the Pahang State Executive Council – was allegedly signed by the Sultan of Pahang’s Royal Comptroller, Datuk Ahmad Khirrizal Ab Rahman.
The defence claims the document supports Najib’s argument that a royal addendum exists, purportedly issued alongside the Pardons Board’s decision to halve his prison sentence from 12 years to six.
“The letter is vital to establishing the addendum’s authenticity,” Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the court during case management before Justice Alice Loke Yee Ching.
The court ordered all written submissions on the amendment application to be filed by 5 September.
Representing the AGC, Senior Federal Counsel Nurhafizza Azizan confirmed the government’s motion for a gag order filed on 20 January, citing the case’s sensitive nature.
The Federal Court had earlier remitted the matter to the High Court after rejecting the AGC’s appeal against a Court of Appeal ruling which allowed Najib to present fresh evidence in support of the addendum claim.
Najib, 72, is also seeking a mandamus order compelling the authorities to confirm the existence of a document dated 29 January 2024, which he claims would permit him to serve his sentence at home.
Named as respondents are the Home Minister, Commissioner General of Prisons, Attorney General, the Pardons Board for the Federal Territories, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), the Director-General of the Legal Affairs Division at the PM’s Department, and the Government of Malaysia.
Najib also seeks immediate implementation of the alleged addendum, which includes his transfer from Kajang Prison to his Kuala Lumpur residence.
On 3 July last year, Justice Datuk Amarjeet Singh dismissed Najib’s initial application for leave to commence a judicial review, ruling that supporting affidavits — including statements from UMNO leaders Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail — amounted to hearsay and were inadmissible.
Najib has been incarcerated at Kajang Prison since 23 August 2022 after being convicted for misappropriating RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd. His conviction and sentence were upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court.
Following a royal pardon petition submitted on 2 September 2022, the Pardons Board later reduced Najib’s sentence to six years and his fine from RM210 million to RM50 million. - August 18, 2025
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