Court grants ex-Malaysian PM Najib house arrest after $12m royal pardon
Najib transitions to house arrest after his party UMNO raises $12m fine via crowdfunding.
Malaysia’s jailed former Prime Minister Najib Razak has been allowed to transfer to house arrest after his party paid a $12m fine following a royal pardon.
Najib’s lawyer, Farhan Shafee, told reporters on Friday that he has been given the order and will be “delivering that order to the Kajang prison right now”.
Najib, who denies any wrongdoing, has been held in jail since 2022, following his conviction for corruption and embezzlement of billions of dollars connected to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state investment fund he co-founded while in power from 2009-2018.
“This has an awful lot of political spinoff, potentially impacting the political scene here in Malaysia,” he said. “But also there’s a lot of questions being asked about how the current politics have impacted this pardon.”