Malaysia’s highest court on Wednesday threw disgraced former prime minister Najib Razak a lifeline in his bid to trade prison for house arrest for his role in the 1MDB corruption scandal.
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The Federal Court dismissed a government bid to block Najib from seeking access to a purported royal order that he claims would permit him to serve the remainder of his six-year sentence at home rather than in Kajang prison, where he has been held since August 2022.
Najib, 72, was convicted in 2020 of criminal breach of trust and abuse of power for illegally receiving 42 million ringgit (US$9.8 million) from a former unit of the state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, which he founded during his nine-year premiership.
The legal saga took a new turn in April last year when Najib claimed that Malaysia’s former king, Sultan Abdullah, had issued a supplementary, or “addendum”, order authorising him to serve the balance of his sentence under house arrest.
The existence of this order has been hotly disputed by government officials, members of the Pardons Board and the Attorney General’s Chambers, despite the former king’s office confirming it had been issued.
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