Lawyer fails to get leave to challenge Anwar's pardon

PUTRAJAYA: A lawyer has failed to obtain leave from the Federal Court here today to challenge the legality of a royal pardon granted to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in 2018.

Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who led a three-member bench in a unanimous decision, dismissed Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz's applications to get leave to appeal after finding that the matter was now academic.

"The court below made a finding of fact that the Pardons Board was properly constituted. We concur that the questions proposed by the applicant (Mohd Khairul) did not meet the threshold requirement under Section 96 (a) and (b) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.

"The issue of non-justiciability is settled and this case does not warrant departure from the precedence," the top judge said when delivering today's decision via online proceedings.

The other judges on the panel were Federal Court judges Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan and Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat.

On the advice of the Pardons Board to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tengku Maimun said the apex court found that there was no basis to suggest any misrepresentation in the advice offered.

The top judge said on the issue of conviction, the court found that the pardon document made no reference to the fact that the conviction was set aside.

"There is no question of the court's power being usurped. Finally, we find that the matter has been rendered academic. Both applications are therefore dismissed with no order as to costs," she said.

Tengku Maimun made the ruling after hearing submissions from Mohd Khairul's lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, J. Leela, who represented the Prime Minister and Senior Federal Counsel Suzana Atan, who acted for Pardons Board.

On Sept 21, 2021, the Court of Appeal allowed the appeals brought by Anwar and the Pardons Board of the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur to strike out the lawsuit filed against them by Mohd Khairul.

The Court of Appeal's three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Has Zanah Mehat, Datuk Indera Mohd Sofian Abd Razak and Datuk Lee Heng Cheong held that Mohd Khairul did not have the right to question the clemency and the advice given to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for the granting of the pardon to Anwar.

On Sept 21, 2020, Anwar and the Pardons Board lost their bid in the High Court to strike out the lawsuit.

Mohd Khairul filed the originating summons on Feb 26, 2020, naming the Pardons Board and Anwar as respondents, claiming that several unconstitutional actions had been taken to ensure that Anwar received a pardon that released him from prison following the 14th General Election.

He claimed that the pardon granted to Anwar by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong contravened Articles 42 (4) and (5) of the Federal Constitution in view of the fact that pardons granted by the Agong should be based on the advice of the Pardons Board which he (Mohd Khairul) argued had not yet been formally formed following the General Election on May 9, 2018 and the formation of the new government.

Anwar had been sentenced to five years' jail for sodomising his aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, and the conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Federal Court on Feb 10, 2015.

-- BERNAMA