KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 — Jailed former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today mounted a fresh legal bid to serve his remaining prison sentence under house arrest, though court proceedings were cut short to allow prosecutors time to review new evidence.
Najib is appealing a lower court decision in July that struck out his request for a judicial review to compel the government to confirm the existence of and execute a royal order entitling him to serve the remainder of his jail term at home.
Najib maintains that an “addendum order” was issued by the former King alongside a Pardons Board decision made public in February to halve his prison sentence for graft in the multibillion-dollar 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal from 12 years to six.
It is unclear if the document exists and there has been no comment from former Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, whose reign ended in January and who chaired the Pardons Board.
Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said the politician’s son filed an affidavit on Tuesday affirming he had received a copy of the addendum from the King’s royal household in Pahang.
Shafee declined to disclose the contents of the document, citing a protective order, but said it confirmed instructions for Najib to serve his sentence at home.
“(This) additional and fresh evidence is to prove conclusively that it exists,” he told reporters after today’s hearing.
The Court of Appeal had allowed proceedings to be postponed to a later date to allow prosecutors’ time to review the affidavit.
Najib was jailed in 2022, two years after being found guilty of criminal breach of trust and abuse of power for illegally receiving funds misappropriated from 1MDB.
Malaysian and US investigators estimate US$4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB and more than US$1 billion channelled to accounts linked to Najib.
In the February statement, the Pardons Board said Najib was expected to be released in August 2028. It also reduced the ex-premier’s fines, sparking uproar in Malaysia.
The government last month said it would introduce a law next year allowing house arrest for some offences, but denied it was aimed at getting Najib or other politicians accused of corruption out of jail.
— Reuters
