Malaysia’s Najib scores court victory in 1MDB-linked house arrest bid

Malaysia’s Court of Appeal was set to decide on Monday whether jailed former prime minister Najib Razak can serve the remaining two-and-a-half years of his prison sentence under house arrest over his role in looting state fund 1MDB.

Najib, 71, has aggressively lobbied for his release from jail, backed by a fiercely loyal political base and a controversial claim that a supplementary decree from the previous king authorised his release into house arrest. He began serving his term at Kajang Prison in 2022.

“Najib’s son Nizar has produced the sultan’s order. What is the government waiting for? Let Najib go home,” said Rosli Mamat, 42, a supporter from Najib’s home constituency of Pekan in Pahang state, as around 300 people gathered outside the Palace of Justice in administrative capital Putrajaya on Monday in a solidarity rally organised by Islamist party PAS.

Public sentiment regarding Najib’s release is far from favourable, however. Many Malaysians recall the 2018 elections that ousted him and his once-mighty Umno party, fuelled by allegations of rampant corruption and the misappropriation of the 1MDB fund he established. The scandal, which has inspired a Netflix series and numerous books, laid bare systemic corruption at the highest levels of power in Malaysia.

Najib’s sentence was halved from 12 years to six in February last year by a pardons board chaired by Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah, the predecessor of Malaysia’s current king, Sultan Ibrahim.

  

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