Najib Razak moves to house arrest after UMNO pays $12m fine
Malaysia’s former prime minister will serve the rest of his sentence at home following a royal pardon and crowdfunded fine payment.
At a glance
- Najib Razak will move to house arrest after UMNO paid his $12 million fine following a royal pardon.
- The former Malaysian prime minister has been jailed since 2022 over corruption linked to the 1MDB state fund.
- He faces a separate 15-year sentence and $2.5 billion fine, and may return to jail in 2028.
Malaysia’s former prime minister Najib Razak is set to begin house arrest after his party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), paid a $12 million fine following a royal pardon. His lawyer, Farhan Shafee, said on Friday that the order had been issued and would be delivered to Kajang prison, with house arrest potentially starting the same day.
The move follows a pardon granted by Malaysia’s King, Sultan Ibrahim, in September, which allows Najib to serve the remainder of his sentence at home. UMNO reportedly covered the 50 million ringgit fine through crowdfunding because Najib’s bank accounts are frozen.
Najib has been imprisoned since 2022 after being convicted of corruption and embezzlement linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state investment fund he co-founded while serving as prime minister from 2009 to 2018. He denies any wrongdoing and says he was solely blamed for a complex global fraud scheme.
Investigators say about $4.5 billion was stolen from the 1MDB fund, with more than $1 billion linked to Najib. Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Kuala Lumpur, said the decision could cause a political stir and raise questions about how current politics influenced the pardon.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who has positioned himself as an anticorruption figurehead, publicly raised concerns about the pardon. There has been speculation that he may have helped it proceed behind the scenes due to pressure from Najib’s party.
In a separate case, Najib was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined $2.5 billion for money laundering and abuse of power. He has appealed the conviction. His lawyers requested that the jail term and fines be halted, citing poor health and his inability to pay the fine. A judge rejected the request in September, saying “the gravity of the offence is a more important public interest consideration.”
Najib is due to return to jail to serve out this sentence as soon as his house arrest ends in 2028, but it is unclear at this stage if this will happen.
Source: Al Jazeera.
Questions and answers
- Why is Najib Razak getting house arrest?
- Malaysia’s king pardoned him in September, allowing him to serve the rest of his sentence at home after his party paid a $12 million fine.
- What was Najib Razak convicted of?
- He was convicted of corruption and embezzlement linked to the 1MDB state investment fund and has been jailed since 2022. He denies wrongdoing.
- Will Najib Razak return to prison?
- He is due to return to jail when his house arrest ends in 2028 to serve a separate sentence, but it is unclear if this will happen.
