‘We live to fight another day,’ says Najib’s daughter after court rejects AG’s appeal

SHAH ALAM – The daughter of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Nooryana Najwa, expressed her gratitude after the Federal Court rejected the Attorney General’s appeal in the case involving the alleged Royal Addendum.

Following the court’s decision, she posted a message on Instagram dedicated to her father.

Najib Razak

She shared words of encouragement and wrote, “We live to fight another day and for that, Alhamdulillah, I am grateful.”

The Attorney General’s appeal had sought to reverse an earlier decision that permitted Najib to pursue a judicial review.

The review seeks confirmation from the government or six named parties regarding the existence of the Royal Addendum.

With the dismissal, the judicial review will now proceed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on the scheduled dates.

The ruling was delivered unanimously by a three-judge panel led by Chief Judge of Malaya, Tan Sri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim, sitting alongside Federal Court judges Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Datuk Hanipah Farikullah.

The case timeline is as follows:

• On Jan 6, the Court of Appeal had granted Najib permission to initiate judicial review proceedings. He sought a directive requiring the government or six others to confirm the validity of the document, which is dated January of the previous year.
• In the application, Najib named the Home Minister, the Commissioner General of Prisons, the Attorney General, the Pardons Board for the Federal Territories, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), the Director-General of the Legal Affairs Division, and the Government of Malaysia as respondents.
• Among the reliefs requested was a copy of the royal decree from the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong relating to a reduction of his prison sentence and fine. He also sought an order that, if the Addendum was found to exist, one of the respondents would be obligated to enforce it by transferring him from Kajang Prison to his home in Kuala Lumpur to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.
• Najib had been serving his sentence in Kajang Prison since August 23, 2022, after being convicted for misappropriating RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd. He filed a petition for a royal pardon on September 2, 2022, which later resulted in the Pardons Board reducing his sentence from 12 years to six, and lowering the fine from RM210 million to RM50 million.
• On July 3 of the previous year, the High Court had rejected Najib’s initial bid to commence the judicial review. The High Court had ruled that the four affidavits submitted in support of Najib’s claims were hearsay and inadmissible as evidence, and that decision had been challenged at the Court of Appeal.