PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today approved Datuk Seri Najib Razak's application for the temporary return of his passport that will enable him to travel to Singapore to visit his daughter Nooryana Najwa who is expected to give birth soon.
A three-man Court of Appeal bench led by Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said allowed the former prime minister's application after finding that there were reasonable grounds for him to get back the document.
Najib was ordered to return his passport to the court on Nov 22.
Earlier, his lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah submitted that Najib was applying for a temporary release of his travel document to accompany Nooryana who is expected to give birth in early November in Singapore.
Shafee said the reason Najib was seeking for his passport to be released from Oct 20 to Nov 22 was because the latter has to renew his passport and will only be travelling on Nov 3 after completing the parliamentary debate on Budget 2022.
"He (Najib) will only leave for Singapore on Nov 3 after he completes the debate on the Budget.
"Then, he would be quarantined in Singapore for 10 days and would only be reunited with his daughter for the said purpose on Nov 14," he said adding that Najib will return to Kuala Lumpur on Nov 20.
Shafee said his client had undertaken to return the passport to the court on Nov 22 through his lawyers as he will be under quarantine upon his arrival back in Kuala Lumpur.
Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Fairuz Johari confirmed that the prosecution had no objections to the application.
The other judges who presided were Datuk P. Ravinthran and Datuk Abu Bakar Jais.
Najib was present during the proceedings.
Najib, 68, is awaiting the Court of Appeal's decision on his appeal against his conviction, 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine after he was found guilty on seven charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of position involving RM42 million of SRC International Sdn Bhd funds.
After his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor applied for her passport to be temporarily released to be with Nooryana in Singapore, Najib had made a similar application.
On Oct 15, the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed Rosmah's application to temporarily get back her international passport.
Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan allowed Rosmah to travel to Singapore from Oct 22 and return back on Nov 21.
She was ordered to return the document to the court before Dec 6.
Rosmah, 69, is expected to resume giving evidence on Oct 21 over her charges of soliciting RM187.5 million and receiving bribes of RM6.5 million from Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd's former managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin, through her former special officer Datuk Rizal Mansor.