KUALA LUMPUR: The Kuala Lumpur High Court on Monday (Dec 22) rejected former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s bid to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest.
The ruling means the 72-year-old will continue serving his jail term at Selangor’s Kajang Prison.
Justice Alice Loke’s decision marks the latest development in Najib’s legal bid for house arrest that began in April 2024. The defence has indicated it will file an appeal.
Najib began his jail term in August 2022 after he was found guilty of three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money laundering and one count of abuse of power by the High Court in July 2020.
The charges involved the transfer of RM42 million from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Berhad – the state investment fund Najib founded in 2009 – into his personal bank accounts in 2014 and 2015. Najib was prime minister from 2009 to 2018.
He was sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million, but Malaysia’s then-king Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah reduced it to six years’ jail and an RM50 million fine just before stepping down on Jan 30, 2024. The Pardons Board, headed by the king, announced the sentence reduction on Feb 2 last year.
On Monday, hundreds of people including supporters from Najib’s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party gathered outside the court in solidarity with the former prime minister.
Source: CNA
