Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has yet to receive the official letter setting out the terms of his conditional pardon, including the order allowing him to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest, according to his lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
Shafee said the letter had also not been received by the Prisons Department, despite the decision having been made by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim on Sept 18.
“As of today, I have yet to receive the official letter on the King’s pardon. This is the eighth day. Strange, isn’t it?” he told reporters outside the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex on Friday.
He said the delay had made it difficult for Najib’s legal team to determine their next steps as the formal conditions attached to the pardon remained unclear.
“As long as we do not receive it, it will affect all the steps we need to take because we do not know what conditions may have been imposed or not,” he said.
Shafee said he had written to the Legal Affairs Division (BHEUU) of the Prime Minister’s Department seeking clarification but had yet to receive a response.
Asked whether Istana Negara should issue the letter, he said the documentation arising from the pardon decision was handled by BHEUU.
He also said the Prisons Department should not be blamed for the delay as it could only act once it received the relevant order.
“The Prisons Department is the authority that implements the order. If it does not receive the order, how can it implement it?” he said.
Shafee said the delay was not considered normal by the legal team, although they were still considering how much time should reasonably be allowed before taking further legal action.
He said the issue could become more significant if the High Court grants Najib’s application to stay the execution of his 15-year prison sentence in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case.
In that situation, he said, Najib could still remain in prison if the authorities had not received the order relating to his house arrest.
