KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 — The Court of Appeal today granted a bid by jailed ex-prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to view a document he said should allow him to serve his sentence at home, in a rare win for the disgraced former leader at the heart of the country’s biggest scandal.
Najib, who was jailed over the multibillion-dollar 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, had appealed a High Court decision in July that dismissed his bid to confirm the existence of and execute a royal order that he said entitled him to house arrest.
The Pardons Board, at the time chaired by then Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, agreed in February to halve Najib’s jail sentence to six years from 12 and reduced his fines, sparking public uproar.
Najib maintained that an “addendum order” on house arrest was issued by the former King alongside the decision, but was never executed by authorities.
In a two-to-one decision today, the Court of Appeal granted Najib’s appeal to overturn the lower court’s dismissal of his previous request. The case will return to the High Court for hearing by a different judge.
“Najib was happy ... very relieved that finally they recognised some element of injustice that has been placed against him,” his lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told a press conference.
‘Valid and authentic’
In a surprise twist while the court was in session today, an aide to Najib shared with the media a letter dated January 4 from the office of the former Agong’s palace in Pahang, which stated a royal order granting Najib home detention was “valid and authentic”.
The office of the Pahang palace confirmed to Reuters the authenticity of the January 4 letter, which marked the first public acknowledgement by the palace of the existence of the royal order, which was issued just before the end of His Highness’ five-year reign.
According to the constitution, the monarch has authority to make decisions on granting pardons, upon the advice of a Pardons Board.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers, whose head sits on the Pardons Board, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the addendum order the palace said had been issued.
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 1MDB.
Najib remains on trial for corruption in several other 1MDB-linked cases. He has consistently denied wrongdoing.
Malaysian and United States investigators estimate US$4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB and more than US$1 billion channelled to accounts linked to Najib.
— Reuters
