by Ganesh Sahathevan
Najib Razak is seeking to use the dissenting judgment by Federal Court judge Abdul Rahman Sebli to support his application for a royal pardon, said his lawyer Shafee Abdullah.
Shafee said Rahman’s minority judgment has been included in the application for a royal pardon, which is being prepared.
“Our pardon request is exactly what Rahman said in his judgment. The request for pardon is not because, ‘Oh, I did wrong, I’m sorry and therefore I throw myself upon your mercy’, no.
“This is not the pardon that is normally the case,” he said at a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur court complex today.
He said the request would state that the former prime minister did not receive a fair trial, adding that his case was not heard in the apex court and the prosecution was heard by the judges ex parte.
Shafee also said the majority judgment would be sent to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for comparison, to see “which is the better judgment”.
The Agong has no power to see “which is the better judgment” but he does have the power to grant a pardon. However, in Shafee's word:
The request for pardon is not because, ‘Oh, I did wrong, I’m sorry and therefore I throw myself upon your mercy’, no.
It does therefore appear that Najib has precluded the Agong from granting him a pardon. Of course, it is assumed that the Agong will confines himself to what the law of the land permits him to do.
He is a not an absolute monarch but a constitutional whose powers are constrained by the Constitution.
END
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