Yeoh, AG depart palace after Pardons Board meet, Umno sec-gen posts ‘Alhamdulillah’

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Hannah Yeoh and Attorney-General Dusuki Mokhtar have left Istana Negara following today’s meeting of the Federal Territories Pardons Board.

Yeoh was seen departing the palace at about 9.43am, according to the New Straits Times, but did not respond to questions from reporters waiting outside.

Dusuki was also seen leaving the palace grounds.

The two had arrived earlier this morning, with Yeoh (below) reaching Istana Negara at 7.48am, followed shortly afterwards by Dusuki.

Both sit on the Federal Territories Pardons Board, which is chaired by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar.

Meanwhile, Umno secretary-general Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki posted a brief but cryptic message on social media about an hour before the departures.

“Alhamudillah (Thank God),” he wrote.

The meeting today comes a week after the board deferred Najib’s pardon application to a future sitting.

Media frenzy

Meanwhile, members of the media have also gathered outside the palace from as early as 7.30am this morning to document the key arrivals and departures.

With several press figures remaining outside the palace, some have also converged outside the gates of Najib’s home at Jalan Duta (below).

Several other journalists have also made their way to the vicinity of the Kajang Prison, where Najib is serving a reduced six-year prison sentence after the Pardons Board in January 2024 halved his original 12-year sentence and reduced his RM210 million fine to RM50 million.

He began serving his sentence in August 2022 after being convicted of misappropriating RM42 million belonging to SRC International.

The latest proceedings also come amid Najib’s separate bid to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest. He argued that an additional order accompanying the 2024 clemency provided for such an arrangement, but the High Court rejected his application, and he withdrew his appeal against the ruling.

Minister's denial

Earlier today, Malaysiakini reported that Yeoh denied signing a house arrest order for Najib, saying a document circulating on social media is fake.

“Please do not circulate this fake document. My press secretary has lodged a report with the authorities,” she said in a social media post.

Yeoh’s press secretary Ahmad Fazli Yadi also denied that the minister had signed the letter, describing it as slander.

The circulation of the letter, which also bore a “royal seal”, comes amid a news report that the Federal Territories Pardons Board would reconvene today to consider Najib’s application, just a week after the matter was deferred.

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