PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court will hear the attorney-general’s (AG) appeal against the grant of leave to Najib Razak to commence judicial review proceedings to enforce a royal decree placing him under house arrest.A three-member bench allowed the AG’s application for leave to appeal against a Court of Appeal ruling handed down on Jan 6 based on seven leave questions.Chief Judge of Malaya Hasnah Hashim said the leave questions posed by the AG had crossed the threshold under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.“The questions posed are novel and of public importance, which need to be further ventilated by this court,” she said of the unanimous ruling.Also on panel were Justices Zabariah Yusof and Hanipah Farikullah.Najib, who is currently serving his jail sentence at Kajang prison for corruption in the SRC International case, was present in court for today’s proceedings.The bench fixed the appeal hearing on July 1 and 2.

Hasnah also ordered the AG to expedite the filing of his notice and memorandum of appeal.“We will not allow postponements unless they are due to death or near death,” she said.Lawyer Shafee Abdullah made an oral application for an enlarged coram of five or seven to hear the appeal, but Hasnah said that was for the chief justice to decide.AG Dusuki Mokhtar appeared in person. Assisting him were senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, Ahmad Hanir Hambali, and Nurhafiza Azizan.On March 24, Dusuki raised seven legal questions to persuade the bench that there was merit in his appeal to set aside the Court of Appeal’s decision allowing the introduction of new evidence in the form of the royal addendum issued by the former king.Dusuki said the apex court had to decide whether the burden was on the AG at the leave stage of a judicial review proceeding to put all necessary evidence before the court.He said the majority, in allowing Najib’s appeal, had ruled that the government and AG should have rebutted the evidence on the existence of the addendum.On Jan 6, the Court of Appeal granted Najib leave to begin judicial review proceedings to compel the government to execute the supplementary decree.The AG, as guardian of public interest, had opposed Najib’s appeal on grounds that it was frivolous.