Jailed Najib Sues Govt & Prisons Dept After His Wish To Attend Parliament Rejected
The former prime minister, who is serving a 12-year sentence in Kajang Prison, claims he has a constitutional obligation to discharge his duties effectively as a member of parliament (MP) for Pekan constituents.
Najib Razak, who is serving time for his crimes, has sued the government, the Minister of Home Affairs (MOHA), and the Prisons Department after he was not allowed to attend the Dewan Rakyat
According to his lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, the 69-year-old convicted criminal filed an application at 1pm yesterday, 5 October, for leave to initiate a judicial review of the Prisons Department's decision to turn down his request to attend the ongoing Dewan Rakyat proceedings, reported The Star.
Najib — whose guilty verdict and 12-year jail sentence on charges related to the multi-billion dollar graft scandal 1MDB was upheld by the Federal Court — claims he has been "adversely affected" by not being allowed access to the parliament, his political officers and aides, and his constituents in Pekan.
He is seeking an order to quash the decision of the Commissioner General of Prisons to not allow him access to his officers/aides for the purposes of parliamentary, legislative, and constituent work.
According to Najib, he has a constitutional obligation to discharge his duties effectively as a member of parliament (MP) for his constituents
He claims that the denial of that right in refusing him the ability to administer his constituency — where he has been the MP since 1976 — is a denial of the well-being of the constituency of Pekan itself.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court will hear the matter on 12 October.
The reason why Najib, despite being jailed, is insisting on the privileges accorded to an MP is that his MP status has yet to be voided
Under Article 48 of the Federal Constitution, an individual can be disqualified as an MP if convicted of an offence, sentenced to more than a year in jail, and fined more than RM2,000.
While Najib has been sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million for his corruption crimes, he remains the Pekan MP because he filed a petition for a royal pardon.
The disqualification can take effect only upon the petition being disposed of, whenever that is.
While the Prisons Department rejected Najib's request, the Dewan Rakyat Speaker said that Najib is free to attend as he wishes:
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