Malaysia halts Razak’s transfer to house arrest — Dawn
In Malaysia, the attorney general’s office has temporarily blocked the transfer of former prime minister Najib Razak to house arrest to serve the remainder of his sentence in a corruption case. The agency said it needed further clarification regarding the terms of the royal pardon, so Razak will remain in custody.
As Dawn reports, King Sultan Ibrahim granted Razak a conditional pardon in September. It provided for the possibility of serving the remainder of his sentence at home on condition that he paid a fine of 50 million ringgit, or about $12 million.
The party paid the fine
The United Malays National Organisation party said on November 7 that it had completed the procedure for paying the fine to the Kuala Lumpur High Court. Razak’s aide Ahmad Lutfi Azhar confirmed the payment, while lawyer Farhan Shafi said the defense had already received documents for transferring the former prime minister from prison.
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Razak’s lawyers disagreed with the attorney general’s office decision. According to them, the procedure for transfer to house arrest was already underway when the agency’s statement appeared. They consider the statement to be a disregard for the monarch’s order.
Departure and return
On the same day, Razak left the prison grounds in a silver car followed by a motorcade. However, he did not arrive at his home. One of the ministers explained that the former prime minister had left for a pre-arranged dentist appointment. More than four hours later, the same motorcade returned to the prison grounds under police escort.
Razak received a 12-year prison sentence in July 2020 in the first case involving funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund. The pardons board later halved the sentence and reduced the fine to $12 million. The sentence is due to end in August 2028. After a previous petition for house arrest was rejected, he was also sentenced to 15 years in prison in another case related to the 1MDB scandal.
