Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim refused to reply questions on Tuesday on the existence of a royal decree that will allegedly enable jailed former premier Najib Razak to serve his jail sentence at house.
Najib, who was prime minister between 2009 and 2018, was sentenced to 12 years in jail in August 2022, when Malaysia’s high courtroom upheld his conviction in a corruption case linked to the multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB.
The sentence nonetheless was halved this yr by a pardons’ board chaired by former King Al-Sultan Abdullah, shortly earlier than his reign led to January. Malaysia has a novel system of monarchy the place the nation’s 9 sultans take turns to change into king each 5 years.
Since April, Najib has been pursuing a authorized bid to compel the federal government to verify the existence of and execute an “addendum order” that he mentioned was issued by the previous king alongside the pardons’ board determination, entitling him to serve the rest of his jail time period at house. The previous monarch has not commented on the case.
Anwar mentioned in parliament on Tuesday he was unable to reply questions from lawmakers on the doc, citing parliamentary guidelines on issues being determined by courts.
He admitted presenting Najib’s request for a pardon to the king, saying the ex-premier had a proper to be heard, however pressured he had not been current when the federal pardons board made its determination to halve Najib’s sentence.
The king and the prime minister sit on the board, though the premier might be represented as an alternative by a federal territories minister.
“Till this case is concluded in courtroom or the king permits for it, we can’t talk about (it),” Anwar mentioned, including he had referred the matter to the present king, Sultan Ibrahim, for additional deliberation.
Malaysia’s Courtroom of Enchantment is ready to listen to Najib’s request on Jan. 6 subsequent yr, after an earlier bid was struck down by a decrease tribunal in July.
Najib’s son final week filed an affidavit in courtroom, affirming he had acquired a duplicate of the addendum from Al-Sultan Abdullah’s royal family, although his attorneys declined to reveal the doc’s contents.
This text was produced by Reuters information company. It has not been edited by International South World.
