KUALA LUMPUR (April 17): Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah asked the government as to why it was concealing the addendum order made by the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah with regard to his client’s purported house arrest.

Shafee, who was speaking to reporters after Najib’s judicial review application on the house arrest issue, said the matter is not as straightforward as it seems.

“The issue like this has not come up before, where an order from the Agong is not shown to Najib and enforced on. One cannot dispute the Agong’s order.

“This is the first case (on an order from the Agong) not being enforced. Why do they conceal the Yang di Pertuan Agong’s order, when you are authorised to expose it. They should expose and enforce it,” Shafee added.

He confirmed that the addendum to the former Agong’s order on Jan 29 exists but when asked whether the critical witness who affirmed the affidavit has seen the addendum, Shafee merely said yes, but advised the media not to report it.

Shafee explained that the High Court had barred the public from accessing the document.

“We got an affidavit, which I cannot name to you [as to] who has confirmed [that] he saw the addendum. I cannot name as to who confirmed seeing the order,” he added.

In explaining further, Shafee said if the media wants to print (the affidavit) "you take the risk".

“The court gave the order as it is sealed. If you get it leaked, you take the risk. The order is that it cannot be used,” the senior lawyer added.

Earlier, the court had allowed Najib’s application to bar the media from reporting Wednesday’s judicial review proceedings.

Shafee added that prior to filing the judicial review application, his firm had written to the respondents - the Home Minister, the Federal Territory Minister, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Law and Institutional Reform, the commissioner-general of the Prisons Department, and the government as respondents.

“I asked them the question - does the addendum exist and why not enforce it; they did not reply.

“So what happened to those concealed, certainly committing serious wrong. You cannot conceal. This is the Agong’s order you have to obey. Following that, we file this judicial review,” Shafee said.

He revealed that High Court judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh had fixed June 5 for a decision on whether to grant leave (permission) to initiate the hearing of the merits of the judicial review. 

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