KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s move to house arrest dominated court developments this week, alongside a Malaysian Bar challenge to the arrangement and an appellate ruling involving his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.
The High Court ordered Najib to serve the remainder of his SRC International prison sentence at home until Aug 23, 2028, replacing an earlier discharge order issued following payment of his RM50 million fine.
The Malaysian Bar, meanwhile, sought leave to challenge the conditional pardon arrangement through judicial review.
In Putrajaya, the Court of Appeal allowed 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and 10 other companies to introduce an affidavit by Rosmah’s former personal shopper in support of their application to freeze her assets.
Other judgments reported this week included a ruling awarding a businessman RM23 million over a non-existent Covid-19 vaccine project and another awarding a schoolboy RM30,000 after a teacher slammed him onto a chair.
Here are some of the week’s major court cases and developments.
NAJIB TO SERVE REMAINDER OF SRC SENTENCE AT HOME
Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s house-arrest saga entered a new phase on Monday amid a dispute over his release, after an Umno representative paid his RM50 million fine at the Kuala Lumpur High Court last Friday (Nov 6).
Earlier that morning, Rosmah said she was unaware of the arrangements to settle the fine. Najib’s lawyer, Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee, later confirmed that an Umno representative had paid it at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
However, the Attorney-General’s Chambers later called for Najib’s transfer to house arrest to be deferred pending clarification of the conditional pardon and the legal implications of the court’s discharge order.
It said the deferment was to ensure that the royal decree and court order were implemented properly and in accordance with the law.
On Saturday, His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, decreed that the conditional pardon must be respected, saying the order was clear and should not give rise to prolonged confusion or uncertainty.
On Monday, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said placing Najib under house arrest without resolving conflicting interpretations of the discharge order could expose the authorities to a wrongful detention claim.
He said clarification was necessary because an outright discharge and continued detention under house arrest carried different legal implications.
On Tuesday, High Court judge Datuk Aslam Zainuddin set aside the Nov 6 discharge order and replaced it with a fresh order allowing Najib to serve the remainder of his SRC International sentence at home until Aug 23, 2028.
On Wednesday, court documents became available showing that the Malaysian Bar had filed a fresh legal challenge to the arrangement a day earlier.
On Thursday, Saifuddin outlined the conditions of Najib’s house arrest in the Dewan Rakyat. They cover his residence and associations, movement and visits, use of communication devices, and participation in rehabilitation programmes.
Najib may live with immediate family members but requires written approval to change his residence, leave home or receive visitors. His use of communication devices is also restricted, and any breach of the conditions could result in his return to prison.
MALAYSIAN BAR CHALLENGES NAJIB’S HOUSE-ARREST ARRANGEMENT
The Malaysian Bar filed an application for leave to commence judicial review proceedings challenging the conditional pardon arrangement that granted former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak house arrest.
The challenge concerns the proceedings, decisions or omissions of the Federal Territories Pardons Board relating to the Sept 18 arrangement.
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The Bar named the Pardons Board, the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department responsible for law and institutional reform, the prisons commissioner-general and Najib as respondents.
Its supporting affidavit was affirmed by Bar secretary Jayabalan Raman Kutty and filed on Nov 10.
The application raises issues involving the Federal Constitution, the Prison Act 1995 and the Prisons Regulations 2000.
The proceedings remain at the leave stage, when the court determines whether the Bar may proceed with its substantive challenge.
1MDB WINS APPEAL TO USE ROSMAH’S PERSONAL SHOPPER’S AFFIDAVIT
The Court of Appeal unanimously allowed 1MDB and 10 other companies to use an affidavit by Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s former personal shopper, Shabnam Naraindas Daswani, in their application to freeze her assets.
The appellate court set aside the High Court’s decision on Nov 10 last year, which refused leave to file the affidavit, and awarded RM30,000 in costs.
The affidavit comprises 319 pages across nine volumes, including invoices, correspondence and photographs relating to purchases of luxury goods.
The companies allege that US$346 million misappropriated from 1MDB was used to purchase about 12,000 items, including jewellery, watches and handbags, for Rosmah’s benefit.
The Court of Appeal found that the delay in preparing the affidavit had been satisfactorily explained, taking into account the volume of supporting documents and Shabnam’s agreement to provide evidence after the claim against her was withdrawn.
It also found that Rosmah could be given sufficient time to consider and respond to the affidavit.
BUSINESSMAN WINS RM23MIL OVER NON-EXISTENT VACCINE PROJECT
Former LKL International Bhd managing director Lim Kon Lian was awarded RM23 million after the High Court found that he had been duped into financing a non-existent Sinovac vaccine project.
Judge Elaine Yap held Halim Shah Harlem Shahnon Abdullah liable for fraudulent misrepresentation.
In grounds dated Nov 10, she found that Halim had cultivated a false persona as a medical doctor and titled dignitary to lend credibility to the venture.
Lim transferred RM23 million to Genesis Biopharma Sdn Bhd following representations about the existence and progress of a project to import, distribute and sell Sinovac vaccines in Malaysia.
The judge rejected Halim’s explanations that RM10 million was a donation and another RM13 million was intended to finance Lim’s own share placement scheme.
She found the explanations inconsistent and inherently improbable.
Apart from awarding damages, the court ordered Halim to account for the money and allowed the tracing of assets acquired using the funds.
SCHOOLBOY AWARDED RM30,000 AFTER TEACHER SLAMMED HIM INTO CHAIR
The Kuala Terengganu High Court’s written grounds, released this week, explained its decision to award RM30,000 to a schoolboy whose leg was fractured after a Kelas Al-Quran dan Fardu Ain (KAFA) teacher lifted him and slammed him down onto a chair.
Judge Yusrin Faidz Yusoff found teacher Ahmad Mursyidin Abdullah liable for assault and battery, and held his employer, Yayasan Islam Terengganu, vicariously liable.
The incident occurred during a KAFA class at Sekolah Kebangsaan Tasek in Marang on July 6, 2022, when the boy was nine.
Medical examinations revealed a spiral fracture to his right shinbone.
The judge found that eyewitness testimony and medical evidence supported the boy’s account over the defence’s contention that he had fallen while playing in class.
He ruled that the teacher’s use of excessive force was closely connected to his role in exercising disciplinary control over pupils.
The High Court allowed the boy’s appeal on Sept 30, overturning the Sessions Court’s dismissal of his claim.