Kuala Lumpur, November 6: Malaysia's jailed former prime minister Najib Razak left Kajang Prison on Friday to serve the remainder of his graft sentence under house arrest, after his party UMNO paid the RM50 million (about $12.32 million) fine required under a royal pardon. An AFP reporter saw a silver car with Najib, 73, inside leaving the Kajang Prison compound, followed by a convoy of vehicles, CNA reported; Malaysian reports put his departure at about 2.37 p.m. local time in a silver SUV, shortly after his lawyer arrived at the prison.
Source: CNA / AFP
Hours earlier, a Malaysian court had issued the order allowing the transfer. 'The RM50 million fine for Najib has been paid by Umno to the High Court. As a result, the court has issued, pursuant to the royal pardon, the order for house arrest. We have that order, and we will be delivering the order to Kajang Prison now,' his lawyer Muhammad Farhan Shafee told reporters, adding that there was still a further process to complete and that Najib could be home within the day if everything went according to plan.
Source: The Edge via KLSE Screener
The fine, paid on Friday morning
UMNO secretary-general Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said the party had completed all payment processes to the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Friday morning. The money was raised through the Najib Razak Solidarity Fund, a crowdfunding campaign launched on September 18 that had now reached its target and would be shut down, the party said. Reuters reported that UMNO used crowdfunding because Najib's lawyers said he was unable to pay the fine himself, as his bank accounts were frozen.
Source: Reuters via SRN News
Malaysia's King, Sultan Ibrahim, agreed in September to allow Najib to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest — a second royal pardon in his case — on condition that the fine was paid first. Under the pardon, announced on September 18 by the Federal Territory Pardons Board, he may serve the rest of his term at home until August 23, 2028. An earlier pardon in 2024, under the then king, Al-Sultan Abdullah, had already halved his original 12-year jail term to six years and cut his fine from RM210 million to RM50 million.
Source: The Edge via KLSE Screener
The 1MDB case behind the sentence
Najib, who was prime minister from 2009 to 2018, has been in Kajang Prison since August 23, 2022, when Malaysia's Federal Court upheld his conviction on seven charges involving RM42 million belonging to SRC International, a former subsidiary of the state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which he co-founded. US investigators say as much as $4.5 billion was siphoned from 1MDB, with more than $1 billion allegedly making its way into accounts linked to Najib. He has consistently denied wrongdoing and says he was made a scapegoat for the scheme.
Source: Reuters via SRN News
Friday's release does not end his legal troubles. Najib was convicted in a separate 1MDB-related case in December last year, for which he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined $2.8 billion for abuse of power and money laundering; he has appealed. Last month a judge rejected his lawyers' request to suspend that jail term and fine pending the appeal, citing the gravity of the offence.
Source: Reuters via SRN News
A divisive homecoming
Najib remains a divisive figure in Malaysian politics but is still influential in UMNO, which is part of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's multi-party government. Anwar's Pakatan Harapan alliance has strongly opposed leniency towards Najib, and Reuters reported his transfer to house arrest could deepen tension inside the coalition; the next election is due by early 2028, and Anwar has said he could call a snap poll if rifts deepen. Former lawmaker Tony Pua, who helped draw attention to the 1MDB scandal, criticised UMNO for raising the money, calling Najib 'Malaysia's biggest crook' in a Facebook post — that is Pua's stated opinion, reported by Reuters.
Source: Reuters via SRN News
What happens next: Najib is expected to serve the remainder of his SRC sentence under house arrest — his lawyer said he could be at his Langgak Duta private residence in Kuala Lumpur within the day — while his appeal in the second 1MDB case continues. The Prisons Department had earlier said it would carry out the terms of the pardon once the official notification reached it.