Malaysian court rejects ex-prime minister Najib Razak’s application — Channel NewsAsia

The Kuala Lumpur High Court on October 14 rejected former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s application to suspend the execution of his 15-year prison sentence. Judge Nur Ruwena Md Nordin said there were no special circumstances for such a decision, Channel NewsAsia reports.

Separate sentence in the 1MDB case

The 73-year-old Razak was sentenced to 15 years in prison in a separate case related to the corruption scandal involving the state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB. This term is to begin after the end of his house arrest term in August 2028.

The former head of government has been in prison since 2022, when Malaysia’s highest court upheld his conviction for corruption and money laundering. He denies guilt.

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Pardon and fine

Last month, Malaysia’s king, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, granted Razak a conditional pardon in another case. It allows him to serve the remainder of his original six-year sentence under house arrest on condition that he pays a fine of 50 million ringgit, or about $12.2 million.

Razak’s party, the United Malays National Organisation, has launched a fundraising campaign to pay the fine. The former prime minister’s lawyers said that freeze orders and enforcement proceedings apply to a significant portion of his assets.

US and Malaysian investigators said that at least $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB, of which about $1 billion went to accounts linked to Razak. He apologized for the improper handling of the scandal but maintains that other people misled him about the origin of the funds.