Gua Musang Umno wants PM to take responsibility for addendum issue

Summary

• The Gua Musang Umno division calls on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to take responsibility for the house arrest addendum controversy.

• It accuses Anwar and the government of hiding the addendum and urges for action to be taken against those involved in doing so.

• UPDATED 9.25PM | Gua Musang PKR rebuffs its Umno counterpart's assertions that the government had hidden the addendum.

An Umno division has called for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to take responsibility over the issue surrounding the royal addendum instructing former premier Najib Abdul Razak to undergo house arrest.

After the Court of Appeal granted Najib a judicial review leave to compel the government to enforce the addendum, the Gua Musang Umno division accused Anwar and the government of purposely hiding the addendum.

“As the prime minister, he (Anwar) is clearly bound by the oath of allegiance to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as well as the Federal Constitution and any disobedience, hiding, or denial of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s orders is a betrayal of king and country.

“The prime minister’s actions, which are inconsistent with answers given previously, clearly show a significant weakness as a prime minister,” it said in a statement.

The statement was later uploaded to division chief and former Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s social media.

He also read the statement aloud to the media during a press conference in Kelantan.

In a separate statement this evening, Gua Musang PKR rebuffed its Umno counterpart's assertions that the government had hidden the addendum.

The PKR division reiterated Anwar's denial that the government hid the decree, and that it was now with the current Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

It further argued that the issue at hand was that the decree did not follow procedure, as it bypassed the Pardons Board.

Addendum confirmed

On Jan 6, the Court of Appeal allowed Najib judicial review leave to compel the government to enforce a decree by the former Yang di-Pertuan Agong, which instructed the former Umno president to serve the remainder of his jail sentence under house arrest.

The Pahang Palace has also confirmed the existence of the royal addendum following an affidavit filed by Najib’s son, Mohd Nizar, on Dec 5.

The addendum supplements the main Pardons Board’s decision which reduced Najib’s initial 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine to six years and RM50 million.

Last month, Anwar refused to comment on the addendum’s existence in the Dewan Rakyat, citing parliamentary rules barring sub-judice discussions for ongoing court cases.

‘Heads must roll’

Gua Musang Umno urged action against those who had hidden the addendum’s existence, which could also be tantamount to obstruction of justice.

Besides that, it expressed disappointment in Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail for calling the addendum “hearsay”.

“This means that the prime minister and home minister have given the Dewan Rakyat wrong (and) inaccurate information, and can be disciplined for misleading or lying to house representatives,” it added.

In November last year, Saifuddin called the addendum mere hearsay while referring to the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision in July, which dismissed Najib’s legal action to affirm the addendum’s existence.

He later clarified that the Prison Department never received the addendum, only the instructions on the former prime minister’s sentence being commuted.

Najib’s sentence stems from his conviction for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust, and money laundering involving RM42 million from SRC International, a former subsidiary of the scandal-ridden 1MDB sovereign wealth fund.

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