KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 12): Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s lawyer has declined to confirm if the jailed former prime minister will seek the Prisons Department’s permission to contest or campaign in the 15th general election (GE15).
Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said there were “many interesting developments and arguments” on this matter but he would rather keep mum at the moment.
“I want to keep it to my chest first. When I execute it, then you’ll know”, the senior lawyer told reporters after Wednesday (Oct 12)’s hearing of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd-Tanore (1MDB-Tanore) case.
“I can’t say yet. You ask me ten times, I will tell you the same answer,” he said when pressed further on the matter.
On Tuesday, Prisons Director General Datuk Nordin Muhammad said Najib would not be allowed to go out to campaign in GE15, as he is subject to the Prisons Act and related regulations while serving his jail sentence.
When asked to comment on Nordin’s statement, Shafee said the director general was probably talking about “the usual state of affairs”.
“As you know, I don’t do normal or usual things. I do extraordinary things,” he said in reference to the judicial review application filed by Najib in a bid to attend the recent parliamentary session.
In the application filed last week, Najib was also seeking to set aside the decision by the Prisons Department to not allow him access to his aides for parliamentary, legislative and constituent work.
Najib filed the application, after his request to attend Parliament was rejected by the Prisons Department in late September, due to “security reasons”.
The leave hearing for the judicial review application was initially set for Wednesday. However, federal counsel M Kogilambigai informed the High Court that she needed more time to study the application.
She argued that there was no urgency to the matter, as Parliament was dissolved two days ago.
However, Shafee countered that that the judicial review was urgent, as there were legal issues to be determined by the court. These include whether Najib can be nominated as a candidate in GE15 and if he could be present at the nomination centre.
Judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid then adjourned the hearing for leave to Oct 19.