Attorney General says glaring errors in Najib court document caused confusion

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 - Attorney General Tan Sri Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar raised concerns over the quality of an official court document used to enforce former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s house arrest. Mohd Dusuki expressed disappointment that the issue arose due to insufficient attention given to the document's accuracy in reviewing it.

He commented on the alleged errors in the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s Order of Discharge tied to Najib’s sentence, which has drawn criticism from legal experts. Speaking to Berita Harian, Mohd Dusuki stated that the flaws in the document were glaring and should not have occurred within Malaysia’s legal framework. "This should not have happened if the parties concerned had exercised due care.

The error is glaring and has caused issues that should never have arisen," he was quoted as saying. The primary issues in question involve the precision of legal terminology and statutory provisions in the document. While Mohd Dusuki did not specify the exact mistakes, the AGC had previously expressed legal doubts about the order's implementation.

According to a Saturday statement from the AGC, the High Court’s Order of Discharge ordered Najib’s immediate release after paying a RM50 million fine on November 6, with the remaining portion of his SRC sentence to be served under house arrest until August 23, 2028. The AGC mentioned that this situation created two potential legal interpretations that need further judicial clarification.

If the SRC sentence remains active, its remaining term should be served under the conditional pardon. However, if the court concludes that Najib’s SRC sentence has officially ended, it would need to decide whether his separate 15-year prison sentence in the 1MDB case should now commence, as that sentence was scheduled to start only after the SRC term was completed.

When asked by Berita Harian about a reported meeting with Sultan Ibrahim to clarify legal questions stemming from Najib’s payment of the RM50 million fine, Mohd Dusuki did not comment further. However, sources told the newspaper that such a meeting could occur as early as Tuesday.