Malaysian court: The former prime minister’s request to spend the balance of his sentence under house arrest is denied by a
Malaysian court: Former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s request to spend the balance of his fraud term under house arrest was denied by a Malaysian court on Monday.
A unusual royal edict issued by the country’s previous monarch was declared invalid by the High Court because it did not comply with constitutional standards.
The court was informed by Najib’s attorney that they want to appeal the decision.
The Pardons Board halved the 12-year sentence last year, meaning the 72-year-old former prime minister will spend the remaining time behind bars, which is set to expire in August 2028.
In a trial connected to the multibillion-dollar embezzlement of the 1MDB state fund that overthrew his government in 2018, Najib was found guilty and is now doing prison. In 2020, he received a 12-year jail term for misuse of authority, criminal breach of trust, and money laundering involving 42 million ringgit ($10.3 million) that had been transferred into his bank accounts from SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary.
After losing his last appeal, he was sentenced in August 2022, making history as Malaysia’s first former leader to be imprisoned.
He submitted an application in April 2024, claiming to have knowledge of an amendment order made by then-King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah that would enable him to serve out the remainder of his term under house arrest. Najib said that the amendment, which drastically reduced a fee and shortened his sentence, was given during a pardons board meeting on January 29, 2024, presided over by Sultan Abdullah.
The presence of the amendment order was uncontested, but according to Judge Alice Loke, the house arrest was not brought up or addressed during the pardons board hearing on January 29. According to the constitution, the king’s prerogative of compassion must be used in accordance with the pardons board’s recommendations; doing so on his own would “invite arbitrary decision,” she said.
She decided that the home arrest was “not a valid order.”
After the judge left the courtroom, Najib, who had been displaying little emotion, grinned when his attorney called the decision “shocking.”
Najib claims Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho tricked him, although he denies any culpability. Low, who is believed to be the scandal’s mastermind, is still at large.
The former leader will also learn on Friday whether he was found guilty or not in a second corruption trial that links him to the 1MDB affair. The High Court will decide on 21 counts of money laundering involving the same sum as well as four allegations of abusing authority to collect more than $700 million from 1MDB that entered Najib’s bank accounts.
Najib may spend up to five years in jail for each of the money laundering counts and up to 20 years in prison for each count of abuse of authority if convicted.
The 1MDB development fund was established by Najib soon after he assumed government in 2009. Investigators claim Najib’s cronies stole at least $4.5 billion from the fund and used layers of bank accounts in the United States and other nations to launder the money.
The money was purportedly used to pay for expensive goods such as hotels, a fancy boat, jewelry, and artwork, as well as Hollywood movies.
The party that has controlled Malaysia since its independence from Britain in 1957 suffered a historic electoral setback in 2018 as a result of widespread indignation over the 1MDB scam.
Despite his conviction, Najib continues to have influence within his party, the United Malays National Organization, which is now a member of the unity government led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim after the 2022 elections.