KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s attorney general said on Friday that former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s transfer to house arrest has been temporarily suspended.
In a statement, reported by Reuters, the chambers of the attorney general said Najib’s current detention status in prison “will be maintained as some legal questions regarding the interpretation of Najib’s conditional royal pardon need clarifying”.
Najib was set to transfer from prison to house arrest after his party paid a $12m fine following a royal pardon.
Najib’s lawyer, Farhan Shafee, told reporters earlier Friday that he has been given the order and will be “delivering that order to the Kajang prison right now”. His house arrest could start on Friday if everything goes to plan, Shafee said.
Najib, who denies any wrongdoing, has been held in jail since 2022, following his conviction for corruption and embezzlement of billions of dollars connected to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state investment fund he cofounded while in power from 2009-2018.
The order comes after Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim agreed in September to pardon Najib, allowing him to serve the rest of his sentence at home.
Najib’s party, the United Malays National Organisation, has reportedly used crowdfunding to cover Najib’s 50 million ringgit ($12m) fine, as his bank accounts have been frozen.
The decision could cause a political stir in Malaysia.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in the country. But there has been speculation that he may have, behind the scenes, helped the pardon go through due to pressure from Najib’s party.
Investigators say about $4.5bn was stolen from the 1MDB state fund and more than $1bn of it was linked to Najib.
Najib has said he was solely blamed for a highly complicated global fraud scheme and has denied any wrongdoing.
Separately, he was also convicted in a major 1MBD trial in Malaysia, where he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and a $2.5bn fine for money laundering and the abuse of power.
He has appealed the case and his lawyers requested that the jail term and fines be halted, citing poor health and his inability to pay the fine.
A judge rejected his request in September, saying “the gravity of the offence is a more important public interest consideration”.
Source: Saudi Gazette