Prison department rejects Najib's bid to attend Dewan Rakyat

The prison department has rejected Najib Razak’s request to attend the Dewan Rakyat sitting, says his lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Shafee told reporters that Najib’s request to attend was turned down by the department on grounds of safety.

"We wrote to the prison department director-general on Sept 19 and they replied to us that they won’t allow on grounds of safety.
 
"I find it a bit off, surely the Parliament is safer than the court… because we have received the rejection, we have written an appeal to Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin," he said. 

The lawyer also said that they would file a judicial review application on the prisons department’s decision if they did not receive a response from Hamzah and his ministry by noon tomorrow or in the event that their appeal is rejected.

Shafee said most importantly, they had also written a letter to the Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Harun on Najib’s eligibility as an MP.

"He (the speaker) himself has said that there are two documents: one is the pardon that has gone in within 14 days and the other one is the application for a review – Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court 1995 – which is also within 14 days.

"Once Najib has done this within 14 days, either of these two, then he is automatically not disqualified. He remains an MP until these two matters are decided by the appropriate authorities – one by the court and the other by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or until the next general election," he said.

Shafee said his client also wanted the prison department to consider allowing him to visit his constituency in Pekan, Pahang.

"We have asked... once in a while he should be able, as long as he is an MP, to be escorted to his constituency. This is in order for him to hear the grouses of his people and then to delegate the work to his aides... and after that, he can come back to the prison," he said.

Earlier today, Azhar said the presence of the Pekan MP at the Dewan Rakyat would depend on the prisons department.

"This is not under my jurisdiction because he is not in my custody. Who has his custody? The prison department. So, it is up to them," he said at the Dewan Rakyat sitting.