By Rozanna Latiff
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 (Reuters) – Malaysia’s former prime minister Najib Razak, jailed for corruption in the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, will learn on Monday if he can serve the remainder of his sentence at home in the first of two rulings this week that will test current premier Anwar Ibrahim’s campaign against graft.
Najib, who has been in prison since 2022, had his 12-year jail sentence halved last year by a pardons board chaired by the country’s former king.
But he insists the monarch also issued an “addendum order” that converts his sentence to house arrest, and he has been seeking to compel the government to confirm the document’s existence and enforce its contents.
Government officials for months denied knowledge of its existence, though the former king’s office and a federal lawyer this year confirmed the royal document had been issued.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court will rule on the bid on Monday, four days before delivering its verdict in the biggest trial facing Najib over the scandal at 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a state fund he co-founded in 2009.
Any decision in favour of Najib could prove unpopular with the public, especially supporters of Anwar, who came to power in 2022 on an anti-corruption platform, analysts said.
“It’s a test of the prosecution, it’s a test of the judiciary, it’s a test of political will,” said Bridget Welsh of the University of Nottingham Asia.
Anwar 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’s wife Rosmah Mansor in a separate graft case.
Anwar has said he does not interfere in court cases, though the country’s attorney generals are appointed by the prime minister and their independence has often been questioned.
NAJIB FACES ADDITIONAL JAIL TIME
Malaysian and U.S. investigators say at least $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB between 2009 and 2014, and that more than $1 billion made its way into bank accounts linked to Najib.
He was found guilty of graft and money laundering in 2020 after receiving funds from a 1MDB unit. Two years later, he became the first Malaysian prime minister to go to prison after losing all his appeals.
Voted out in 2018, Najib last year apologised for mishandling the scandal during his time in office, but he has consistently denied wrongdoing, saying he was misled about the source of the funds by fugitive financier Jho Low and other 1MDB officials.
On December 26, the court will also decide whether to convict Najib of four additional charges of corruption and 21 counts of money laundering involving the illegal transfer of about 2.2 billion ringgit ($538.69 million) from 1MDB.
If found guilty, he could face a maximum of 20 years’ imprisonment on each charge, as well as a fine of up to five times the value of the alleged misappropriations.
Najib’s lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, said last week that the house arrest decision would not have any bearing on the 1MDB trial, though he hoped both would go his client’s way.
“We hope Monday is a good decision for us, and we hope that (December) the 26th likewise will be a good decision for us,” he told reporters.
($1 = 4.0840 ringgit)
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by David Stanway)
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