BANGI: The Malaysian Bar has the right to challenge the Federal Territories Pardons Board’s decision allowing former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
She said the Bar is entitled to mount such a challenge if it believes it has grounds to question the decision.
“But I have always stressed that when we speak of matters under Article 42, it is considered what is referred to as the prerogative of mercy, which we know is among the powers fully vested in the discretion of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the power of pardon.
“So it is up to the Malaysian Bar as to what it wants to bring… If the Malaysian Bar feels it has the right to question any issue, that is its right,” she told reporters here today after a certificate presentation ceremony for the Professional Mediation Certification Course and Mediator Appointment Certificates, and the launch of the Legal Aid Department’s 2026 Madani Mediation Centre Handbook.
Earlier today, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (A-GC) objected to the Malaysian Bar’s bid to challenge the Pardons Board’s decision concerning Najib’s SRC International Sdn Bhd sentence.
Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly@Arwi told High Court Judge S. Indra Nehru that the A-GC had received the Bar’s application for leave to commence judicial review by email two days ago and needed time to file written submissions.
Meanwhile, Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee told the court that his client also intended to file written submissions, as any decision after leave is granted could affect him.
Lawyer Zainur Zakaria, representing the Malaysian Bar, did not object to the requests by the A-GC and Najib’s lawyers.
Judge Indra Nehru fixed March 17 next year to hear the application and ordered written submissions to be filed by Dec 14, with replies due on or before Dec 28.
On Nov 10, the Bar filed the judicial review application naming the Federal Territories Pardons Board, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), the Director-General of Prisons and Najib as respondents.