Malaysia court rejects Najib’s bid to serve sentence under house arrest

High Court says a royal document allowing the ex-PM’s transfer to house arrest was not valid.

A court in Malaysia has ‍dismissed jailed ‍former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s bid to serve the remainder of his sentence for corruption at home, ruling that a royal document allowing the ⁠move was not valid.

The ruling on Monday dealt another blow to Najib, who has been imprisoned since August 2022 for his role in the multi-billion dollar 1MDB scandal.

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Najib had sought to compel Malaysian authorities to ‍confirm the ⁠existence of and execute a royal order that he said was issued last year as part of a pardon by the then-king, entitling him to serve the remainder of his sentence at ​home.

Kuala Lumpur High Court ‌judge Alice Loke said on Monday that the existence of the order was not in dispute, but the former king should ‌have consulted the country’s pardons board before making the order ‌to allow Najib house arrest.

“The court ruled that the king could not grant house arrest independently of the pardons board,” she wrote. “I’m of the view that a house arrest order is not capable of execution, no legal provision for such a mechanism in Malaysia.”

Najib did not show much emotion, and later smiled when his lawyer described the ruling as “shocking” after the judge left the courtroom.

Najib denies wrongdoing, alleging that Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho duped him. Low, thought to be the mastermind of the scandal, remains at large.

Former Malaysian parliament member Charles Santiago, who had pushed for the prosecution of Najib, hailed Monday’s ruling in a social media post.

“Faith in the judiciary restored,” he wrote.

The country’s pardons board announced last year that it had reduced to six years the original sentence of Najib, who was convicted and sent to jail for 12 years for corruption.

Najib is set to be released on August 23, 2028, and fines imposed on him were reduced to 50 million ringgit ($10.6m) from 210 million ringgit ($44.5m), according to the pardons board.

Separately on Friday, the former leader will also find out if he is acquitted or convicted in a second graft trial that ties him directly to the 1MDB scandal.

The High Court will rule on four charges of abuse of power to obtain over $700m from 1MDB that went into Najib’s bank accounts, and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same amount.

If found guilty, Najib faces up to 20 years in prison for each count of abuse of power and up to five years for each of the money laundering charges.

Najib set up the 1MDB development fund shortly after he took office in 2009. Investigators allege at least $4.5bn was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib’s associates through layers of bank accounts in the US and other countries.

The funds were allegedly used to finance Hollywood films and extravagant purchases that included hotels, a luxury yacht, art and jewelry.

A national outrage over the 1MDB scandal led to the historic 2018 election defeat of the party that had governed Malaysia since independence from the United Kingdom in 1957.

Despite his conviction, Najib still holds clout in his party, the United Malays National Organization, which is now part of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim‘s unity government that took power after elections in 2022.