A Malaysian court has rejected the former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s legal attempt to obtain a document that he claimed would allow him to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest. In an application for judicial review filed on April 1, Najib stated that an “addendum order” issued by the former king had accompanied the pardon board’s decision to reduce his 12-year jail sentence for corruption related to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal.
Najib asked the court to compel the government to respond to or confirm the existence of the royal order, which he claimed would entitle him to serve the remaining part of his sentence under house arrest, as well as to execute the order if it indeed existed. In a judgment released to the media on Wednesday, the Kuala Lumpur High Court found that there was no valid case warranting a full hearing of Najib’s application.
Judge Amarjeet Singh described affidavits filed by Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and another high-ranking politician from Najib’s party, stating that they had seen a copy of the royal order, as hearsay. He said that the government had no legal duty to respond to the application.
Najib planned to appeal the decision, as confirmed by his lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who told reporters,
“In terms of ethics, the government should have answered.” The pardons board that halved Najib’s term was chaired by King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah, whose five-year reign as head of state ended in January.
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. The verdict was upheld by Malaysia’s top court in 2022.
photo: standard media
