Former prime minister Najib Razak arrived at his home in Jalan Langgak Duta, Taman Duta, Kuala Lumpur, on Tuesday night (Nov 10) to begin serving the rest of his prison sentence under house arrest, hours after the High Court issued a fresh order that cleared the way for the move.
Najib, 73, was driven to the house in a Prisons Department vehicle and arrived at 9.29pm. Members of his family had arrived earlier, and supporters waiting outside greeted him with shouts of “Bossku”, the nickname that caught on among his backers after Barisan Nasional lost power in 2018.
Earlier in the day, High Court Judge Datuk Aslam Zainuddin set aside the Order of Discharge on Payment of Fine that the court’s criminal registry had issued on Friday (Nov 6) and replaced it entirely with a new order. Under the new order, Najib is to serve the remainder of his reduced six-year sentence in the SRC International case under house arrest at his Langgak Duta home with immediate effect, until Aug 23, 2028.
He is then to return to Kajang Prison on Aug 24, 2028, to serve his sentence in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case. The judge said he had examined the conditional pardon order, proof that the fine had been paid in full, the earlier order and other relevant documents before reaching his decision.
The application to set aside Friday’s order was made by the prosecution, which told the court that the earlier document was wholly contrary to the royal pardon order. The prosecution said it respected the pardon and intended to give full effect to the royal decree. Najib’s defence said it had understood the earlier order to deal only with payment of the fine, argued that house arrest did not need a further specific court order, and said the draft had contained only minor typographical errors.
Najib, who was in the public gallery when the decision was read, was escorted back to Kajang Prison by prison officers after the hearing before being taken home in the evening.
The house arrest stems from a conditional pardon granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Ibrahim, on Sept 18, which allows Najib to serve the rest of his SRC International sentence at home provided he pays a RM50 million fine and complies with other conditions. He paid the fine in full on Nov 6, but the Attorney-General’s Chambers then raised concerns about the terminology and legal provisions used in the discharge order, and the move was put on hold while he stayed in Kajang Prison. The chambers had said it was not challenging the conditional pardon and wanted the court to decide on the discharge order, while Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said placing Najib under house arrest before the order was clarified could amount to wrongful detention.
Najib has been in Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022, when the Federal Court upheld his conviction for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving RM42 million in SRC International funds. He was originally sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million, before the Pardons Board halved the jail term to six years and cut the fine to RM50 million in January 2024.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke, who had said his resignation would take effect once Najib was home, said in a statement on Tuesday that his resignation was effective immediately, linking it to the High Court’s decision. He thanked Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for the trust placed in him since he joined the Cabinet in December 2022 and said he would ensure a smooth handover so that the ministry’s work continues.