Former Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak's legal bid to serve the remaining of his jail sentence under house arrest has been rejected by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Wednesday (Jul. 3).

Najib had previously requested to produce an "addendum order" permitting a house arrest by the former Malaysia Agong, Sultan Abdullah of Pahang, Malaysian media New Straits Times, Malaysiakini, and Malay Mail reported.

No arguable case

However, Judge Amarjeet Singh said all affidavits in Najib's case contained bare statements without mentioning the source and his belief of the existence of the addendum order.

Affidavits filed by Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Pahang Menteri Besar (chief minister) Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, a high-ranking official from Najib's party, also did not indicate direct knowledge of the purported addendum order.

“I find that both affidavits are, at the highest, pure hearsay,” said Amarjeet, as quoted by Kini.

The High Court found there was no arguable case that could call for a full hearing of Najib's application.

Najib plans to appeal the decision, according to his lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Background

Najib in August 2022 was sentenced to a 12-year prison sentence after losing his final appeal for corruption charges related to the 1MDB scandal.

His jail term was later halved in January 2024 by the former Malaysian Agong, Abdullah of Pahang. This means that Najib will released from prison earlier, on Aug. 23, 2028.

The Malaysian Federal Territories Pardons Board has also reduced Najib's fine from RM210 million (S$59.3 million) to RM50 million (S$14 million).

The former prime minister's early release, however, would be dependent on his payment of the fine.

In April, Najib filed a judicial review to produce an addendum order dated Jan. 29, 2024, by the former Agong permitting him to serve his remaining jail term under house arrest.

Najib claimed that the order had been kept silent by the government, New Straits Times reported.

1MDB

1MDB was a state fund Najib founded in 2009 during his term as prime minister. He served as a chairperson of the 1MDB's board of advisors.

1MDB was created to promote economic development in Malaysia through global partnerships and foreign direct investment and was meant to be used to improve the well-being of the Malaysian people.

According to the United States Department of Justice, more than US$4.5 billion (S$6 billion) of 1MDB funds were misappropriated between 2009 and 2015.

Top image via Najib Razak/Facebook