[UPDATED] 'Illogical' to keep Najib in Kajang after home gazetted as prison, say lawyers

Former Prime Minister Najib Razak's legal team has contested the Attorney-General's Chambers (A-GC) decision to keep him confined at Kajang Prison after his home in Taman Duta was officially declared a prison. The legal team, Shafee & Co, questioned the logic of retaining Najib in Kajang while the residence was already designated as a prison by the Court of Appeal.

They argued that transferring him to Kajang would not free him from lawful custody and would merely relocate him to another designated prison. The lawyers emphasized that the gazette declaration made his residence a prison, making his continued imprisonment in Kajang redundant. The A-GC's call for a temporary suspension of Najib's house arrest, pending clarification on the pardon and court orders, the lawyers said, did not justify his continued detention in Kajang.

The declaration of Najib's residence as a prison by the Home Minister, they argued, removed any justification for his continued confinement in Kajang. Najib's lawyers further contested the A-GC's concerns over the legal effect of the pardon, asserting that his SRC International prison sentence was completed and his fine had been paid.