A Malaysian court on Monday dismissed former prime minister Najib Razak’s bid to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest, dealing a setback to his attempt to secure early release from jail.
Najib, 72, is serving a reduced six-year sentence after receiving partial royal clemency earlier this year in the SRC International case, a former subsidiary linked to the scandal-ridden Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, in which he was convicted of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving 42 million ringgit (US$10.3 million).
The ruling shuts down Najib’s months-long effort to force the government to recognise what his lawyers claimed was an additional royal decree authorising house arrest.
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“The [decree] was not made following the procedure prescribed under Article 42 of the Federal Constitution and is therefore not a valid order,” Judge Alice Loke Yee Ching said, ruling that the alleged house arrest directive had not been deliberated by the Pardons Board.
The board, set up under Article 42, is made up of the attorney general, the federal territories minister and up to three other members appointed by the king, who must preside over it when exercising his powers of clemency.
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