The former prime minister is seeking to rely on the new evidence to secure leave to commence judicial review proceedings to compel the government to execute a purported royal decree issued by former Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.
Afiqa Liyana Rozman was the deputy public prosecutor in the case.
The High Court had on July 3 dismissed Najib’s application for leave, and the Court of Appeal was scheduled to hear Najib’s appeal from that ruling this afternoon.
In an affidavit affirmed in support of the application two days ago, lawyer Shafee Abdullah said Najib had no intention to delay today’s appeal hearing. However, the new evidence was only recently obtained by Najib’s son, Nizar.
Shafee also asked the appeals court to issue a protective order to preserve the confidentiality of the additional evidence due to its sensitive nature.
The lawyer claimed that all criteria prescribed by law for introducing fresh evidence at the appellate stage have also been fulfilled.
The new evidence will prove that Najib’s application for leave should be allowed as it has merit, Shafee’s affidavit said.
Court documents sighted by FMT revealed that the application was also accompanied by an affidavit affirmed on Dec 2 by Nizar, the Peramu Jaya assemblymen and a Pahang state executive councillor.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court had previously ruled that Najib had failed to show he had an arguable case to warrant a full hearing of his proposed judicial review application.
Justice Amarjeet Singh said the statements contained in affidavits filed by Najib, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, and the party’s vice-president Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail were hearsay and inadmissible as evidence.
On Feb 2 this year, the Federal Territories Pardons Board (FTPB) announced that Najib’s prison sentence in his SRC International case had been halved from 12 years to six, and his fine reduced from RM210 million to RM50 million.
He is currently serving his jail sentence at Kajang prison.
In his leave application filed in the High Court on April 1, Najib claimed that the former king had during an FTPB meeting on Jan 29, also issued a supplementary decree allowing him to serve the remainder of his reduced jail term under house arrest.
The former prime minister said the FTPB had omitted to announce the terms of the supplementary decree, and that the government was in contempt for not complying with it.
He wants the court to compel the government to execute the supplementary decree, if it exists, by placing him under house arrest.