MALAYSIA’S NAJIB RAZAK LOSES HIS BID TO SERVE A HOUSE ARREST SENTENCE FOR CORRUPTION

Wed 03 July 2024:

A Malaysian court has rejected former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s request to serve his remaining prison sentence under house arrest.

The decision on Wednesday addressed a judicial review application filed by Najib on April 1, claiming he had reliable information that then-King Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah issued an “addendum order” allowing him to complete his corruption sentence under house arrest.

Najib asserted the addendum was issued during a January 29 pardons board meeting chaired by Sultan Abdullah, which also halved his 12-year jail sentence for graft in the 1MDB scandal and significantly reduced a fine.

The former prime minister sought a court order to compel the government to acknowledge or confirm the existence of the royal order, which he argued would permit him to serve the rest of his term under house arrest, and to enforce the order if it existed.

In the judgement released on Wednesday, the Kuala Lumpur High Court found no arguable case warranting a full hearing of Najib’s application.

Judge Amarjeet Singh dismissed affidavits from Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and another senior politician from Najib’s party, describing their claims of seeing a copy of the royal order as hearsay. He stated the government had no legal obligation to respond to the application.

Najib plans to appeal the decision, his lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told reporters. “The court said there is no legal duty but in terms of ethics, the government should have answered,” Shafee said.

The pardons board that reduced Najib’s term was chaired by King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah, whose five-year tenure as head of state ended in January. Sultan Abdullah is from Najib’s hometown in Pahang.

Najib accused the pardons board, home minister, attorney general, and four others of concealing the sultan’s order “in bad faith.” Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said he had no knowledge of such an order as he was not a member of the pardons board. The others named in Najib’s application have not commented publicly.

Shafee argued Najib’s application was not based on hearsay but on “digital evidence” of the addendum, with Trade Minister Zafrul Aziz having taken a photo of it on his phone when informed by Sultan Abdullah. Shafee claimed the government’s silence implied the addendum existed.

“One thing is clear, not one person or any government institutions have said that this addendum doesn’t exist. If it doesn’t exist, just say so. If the government dare say clearly there is no addendum, we can all go home and sleep,” he said.

Najib was found guilty in 2020 of criminal breach of trust and abuse of power for illegally receiving funds misappropriated from a unit of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). The verdict was upheld by Malaysia’s top court in 2022.

Investigators from Malaysia and the United States estimate $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB, with over $1 billion channelled to accounts linked to Najib.

Najib served less than two years of his sentence before it was commuted by the pardons board. His sentence now ends on August 23, 2028. The pardons board did not provide reasons for its decision and was not required to explain, prompting public outcry over perceived special privileges for Najib compared to other prisoners.

The Malaysian Bar, representing over 20,000 lawyers, has filed an application to challenge the pardons board’s decision, deeming it illegal, unconstitutional, and invalid. The Bar’s challenge, which began this week, argues that the decision undermines Najib’s other ongoing criminal cases linked to the 1MDB scandal.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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