KUALA LUMPUR: The Yang di-Pertuan Agong has the power to grant pardons, reprieves and respites in respect to all offences that have been tried by court-martial and committed in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya.
The Ruler or governor of a state has similar power in respect to all offences committed in his state.
This is enshrined in Article 42(1) of the Federal Constitution regarding the power of pardon.
Article 42(2) also states that subject to Clause (10), and without prejudice to any provision of a federal law relating to remission of sentences for good conduct or special services, any power conferred by federal or state law to remit, suspend or commute sentences for any offence shall be exercisable by the King if the sentence was passed by a court-martial or by a civil court exercising jurisdiction in Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya.
And in any other case, this shall be exercisable by the Ruler or governor of the state where the offence was committed.
Article 42(3), on the other hand, states that where an offence was committed wholly or partly outside the federation or in more than one state or in circumstances that make it doubtful where it was committed, it shall be treated as having been committed in the state in which it was tried.
For this clause, the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya shall each be regarded as a state.
Article 42(5) states that the Pardons Board constituted for each state shall consist of the Attorney General of the federation, the Chief Minister of the state, and not more than three other members, who shall be appointed by the Ruler or the governor.
The Attorney General may, from time to time by instrument in writing, delegate his functions as a member of the board to any other person, and the Ruler or governor may appoint any person to exercise temporarily the functions of any member of the board appointed by him who is absent or unable to act.
Article 42(6) also explains that members of a Pardons Board appointed by the Ruler or governor shall be appointed for a term of three years and shall be eligible for reappointment, but may at any time resign from the board.According to Article 42(9), before tendering their advice on any matter, a Pardons Board shall consider any written opinion that the Attorney General may have delivered.
On Friday, the Pardons Board for Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya announced that former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is serving a 12-year prison sentence, will be released earlier on Aug 23, 2028.
This came about after the Pardons Board in its meeting on Jan 29 decided to reduce his jail sentence by half.
The fine to be paid by Najib was also cut to RM50mil from the original RM210mil.
Najib, 70, has been serving time at the Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022, after being convicted of misappropriating RM42mil in SRC International funds.
He filed the petition for a royal pardon on Sept 2, 2022. — Bernama
