{"id":4513,"date":"2025-12-22T07:35:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T07:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/22\/malaysian-court-rejects-najibs-bid-to-serve-sentence-under-house-arrest\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T07:35:32","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T07:35:32","slug":"malaysian-court-rejects-najibs-bid-to-serve-sentence-under-house-arrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/22\/malaysian-court-rejects-najibs-bid-to-serve-sentence-under-house-arrest\/","title":{"rendered":"Malaysian court rejects Najib\u2019s bid to serve sentence under house arrest"},"content":{"rendered":"<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>A court in Malaysia has \u200ddismissed jailed \u200dformer Prime Minister Najib Razak\u2019s bid to serve the remainder of his sentence for corruption at his home, ruling that a royal document allowing the \u2060move was not valid.<\/p>\n<p>The decision by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Monday dealt another blow to Najib, who has been imprisoned since August 2022 for his role in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2020\/7\/28\/malaysias-najib-guilty-of-all-charges-in-1mdb-linked-graft-case\">multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/5\/30\/sentence-for-ex-goldman-banker-in-1mdb-case-too-short-malaysian-minister\">Sentence for ex-Goldman banker in 1MDB case \u2018too short\u2019: Malaysian minister<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/101-east\/2025\/5\/15\/politics-diplomacy-exclusive-interview-with-malaysias-anwar-ibrahim\">Politics &#038; Diplomacy: Exclusive Interview with Malaysia\u2019s Anwar Ibrahim<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/1\/6\/malaysia-court-grants-jailed-ex-pm-najib-access-to-house-arrest-decree\">Malaysia court grants jailed ex-PM Najib access to house arrest decree<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/12\/23\/malaysias-scandal-hit-1mdb-sues-amicorp-seeks-1bn-for-alleged-fraud\">Malaysia\u2019s scandal-hit 1MDB sues Amicorp, seeks $1bn for alleged fraud<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Najib, 72, had sought to compel Malaysian authorities to \u200dconfirm and execute a royal order that he said was issued last year as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/2\/2\/malaysia-reduces-sentence-of-former-pm-najib-razak\">part of a pardon<\/a> by the then-king.<\/p>\n<p>He said the \u201caddendum order\u201d entitled him to serve the remainder of his sentence at \u200bhome.<\/p>\n<p>The king plays a largely ceremonial role in Malaysia but can pardon convicted people as one of the discretionary powers granted to him by the federal constitution.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Alice Loke said the existence of the order was not in dispute, but the order was not legally enforceable as it was not made with the consultation of the country\u2019s pardons board, as required under the constitution.<\/p>\n<p>While Malaysia\u2019s rulers are allowed to issue pardons according to their discretion, their powers are not without limits, she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe court ruled that the king could not grant house arrest independently of the pardons board,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI\u2019m of the view that a house arrest order is not capable of execution, no legal provision for such a mechanism in Malaysia.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"shocking\">\u2018Shocking\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Najib did not show much emotion, and later smiled when his lawyer described the ruling as \u201cshocking\u201d after the judge left the courtroom.<\/p>\n<p>The lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, told The Star newspaper that the former leader will appeal the verdict.<\/p>\n<p>Najib was originally sentenced to 12 years\u2019 imprisonment in July 2020 in a first trial involving some 42 million ringgit ($9.9m at the time), siphoned from a former 1MDB subsidiary called SRC International Sdn Bhd.<\/p>\n<p>The term was later halved by a pardons board.<\/p>\n<p>Former Malaysian parliament member Charles Santiago, who had pushed for the prosecution of Najib, hailed Monday\u2019s ruling in a social media post.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFaith in the judiciary restored,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Najib faces another verdict this week in a separate trial linked to the financial scandal at 1MDB, the state fund that he cofounded in 2009.<\/p>\n<p>The verdict, due on Friday, is seen as the main case against Najib.<\/p>\n<p>He faces four counts of abuse of power to obtain some 2.28 billion ringgit ($554m) from 1MDB funds, as well as 21 counts of money laundering.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors say Najib abused his position as prime minister, finance minister and 1MDB advisory board chairman to move large amounts of money from the fund to his personal account more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n<p>The prosecution presented bank records, documents and testimony from more than 50 witnesses.<\/p>\n<p>Najib denies any wrongdoing, and defence lawyers have blamed Najib\u2019s close associate, the shadowy fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low.<\/p>\n<p>If found guilty, Najib faces up to 20 years in prison for each count of abuse of power and up to five years for each of the money laundering charges.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"campaign-against-corruption\">Campaign against corruption<\/h2>\n<p>Both court rulings are being closely watched as a test of current Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim\u2019s campaign against corruption.<\/p>\n<p>Anwar, who came to power in 2022 on an anticorruption platform, has faced repeated questions about his commitment to reform as prosecutors dropped several charges against Najib. This month, prosecutors also abandoned an appeal against the acquittal of Najib\u2019s wife Rosmah Mansor in a separate corruption case.<\/p>\n<p>Anwar has said he does not interfere in court cases, though the country\u2019s attorneys general are appointed by the prime minister and their independence has often been questioned.<\/p>\n<p>Najib set up the 1MDB development fund shortly after he took office in 2009. Investigators allege at least $4.5bn was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib\u2019s associates through layers of bank accounts in the United States and other countries.<\/p>\n<p>The funds were allegedly used to finance Hollywood films and extravagant purchases that included hotels, a luxury yacht, art and jewellery.<\/p>\n<p>A national outrage over the 1MDB scandal led to the historic 2018 election defeat of the party that had governed Malaysia since independence from the United Kingdom in 1957.<\/p>\n<p>Despite his conviction, Najib still holds clout in his party, the United Malays National Organisation, which is now part of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/11\/24\/malaysias-anwar-named-countrys-10th-prime-minister\">Anwar<\/a>\u2018s unity government that took power after the 2022 elections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A court in Malaysia has \u200ddismissed jailed \u200dformer Prime Minister Najib Razak\u2019s bid to serve the remainder of his sentence for corruption at his home, ruling that a royal document allowing the \u2060move was not valid. The decision by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Monday dealt another blow to Najib, who has been imprisoned &#8230; <a title=\"Malaysian court rejects Najib\u2019s bid to serve sentence under house arrest\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/22\/malaysian-court-rejects-najibs-bid-to-serve-sentence-under-house-arrest\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Malaysian court rejects Najib\u2019s bid to serve sentence under house arrest\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}