KUALA LUMPUR: Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz's bid to intervene in a judicial review application on a purported house arrest order by the former king will be heard on Thursday.
He had on April 22 applied to submit an affidavit addressing "factual inaccuracies" in another affidavit, which was filed by Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in support of Datuk Seri Najib Razak's application for judicial review.
Najib's lawyer, Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee, confirmed tomorrow's hearing.
On Jan 29, the Pardons Board, which the then king presided over, halved Najib's 12-year jail sentence for abuse of power and criminal breach of trust, and reduced his RM210 million fine to RM50 million.
Najib claimed in his judicial review application to the High Court on April 1 that the then king had issued an addendum order — also on Jan 29 — allowing him to serve the remainder of his jail sentence under house arrest.
The former prime minister wanted the court to compel the government to produce the document.
Tengku Zafrul, via the law firm Cecil Abraham & Partners, wrote to High Court judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh's office for permission to file the affidavit to address the allegations in paragraph six of Zahid's affidavit.
"There are factual inaccuracies which ought to be corrected pursuant to the inherent jurisdiction of this honourable court and/or pursuant to Order 92 Rule 4 of the Rules of Court 2012.
"For the record, we are further instructed by our client to state that our client takes no position as to the merits of the dispute between the parties.
"Our client merely wishes to ensure that the facts are accurately placed before this honourable court in a neutral manner," the letter said.
Umno president Zahid, in his affidavit filed on April 17, claimed that Tengku Zafrul had, on Jan 30, showed him a scanned copy of the original addendum order on his phone at Zahid's house at Country Heights.
He also claimed that Zafrul said the original was shown to him by the former king, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.
Najib named the home minister, Prisons Department commissioner general, attorney-general, Federal Territories Pardons Board, minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform), Legal Affairs Division director-general and the government as respondents in his application
He is serving the jail sentence after a conviction for abuse of power and criminal breach of trust involving RM42 million from SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary.