Court dismisses Najib's bid to attend Parliament as it's now academic, has no merit

KUALA LUMPUR - The High Court here today dismissed Datuk Seri Najib Razak's legal challenge over the Prisons Department’s refusal to allow his request to attend Dewan Rakyat proceedings.

Judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid ruled that there is no live issue to be considered by the court as Najib is no longer a Member of Parliament after the dissolution of Parliament on Oct 10.

"Upon the dissolution of Parliament, the applicant (Najib) ceased to be a Member of Parliament. Unless and until the pardon is given or the conviction is quashed upon review, there is no possibility that the applicant will again be a Member of Parliament while simultaneously being a prisoner, as the law prohibits any convicted person to contest for election by virtue of Article 48(5) of the Federal Constitution.

"Therefore, the application is now academic and has no merit.

"I hereby dismiss the application for being frivolous and vexations,” the judge said.

On Oct 5, Najib filed the application for leave for judicial review to challenge the Prisons Department’s refusal to allow his request to attend the Dewan Rakyat sitting.

In his lawsuit, Najib named the Malaysian Government, the Minister of Home Affairs and the Commissioner General of Prisons as the first to third respondents, and sought an order to quash the decision of the third respondent to not allow him access to his officers/aides for the purposes of parliamentary, legislative and constituency work.

Judge Ahmad Kamal in his brief judgment said as Najib is no longer the Pekan MP, the declaratory reliefs sought by him to have access to his officers/aides for the purposes of parliamentary, legislative and constituency work as well as to have access and attendance in Parliament on scheduled dates of session/sitting is also no longer a live issue.

In fact, he said the declaratory reliefs sought by Najib have become impossible with the dissolution of the Parliament since there is no Parliament for him to attend.

"On top of that, the Election Commission had also announced that the polling day for the next General Election to be on Nov 19. That would mean another Cabinet will be formed consisting of newly elected Members of Parliament," the judge said.

He stated that the argument put forward by the applicant's counsel that "at the time of filing, it is a live issue" is of no merit.

"This is because it is logical that when any application is made or filed before the court, the issue is a live issue to be considered at the time of filing.

"However, the matter has now been overtaken by events with the dissolution of the Parliament. The issue in question has now become water under the bridge and is no longer in existence. No order can be made to give effect to the issue anymore," the judge added.

Meanwhile, Najib's counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the court that he will file an appeal against today's decision.

Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan acted for the respondents.

Najib is currently serving his 12 years jail sentence in Kajang Prison after the Federal Court had on Aug 23 upheld the conviction and 12 years jail term and a fine of RM210 million against him who was found guilty of misappropriating SRC International Sdn Bhd funds amounting to RM42 million. - BERNAMA