Najib house arrest begins after Malaysian court order

Najib house arrest began on Tuesday night (November 10) when former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak left prison and was driven under police escort to his home in Kuala Lumpur, hours after the High Court cleared the transfer that had been halted last week, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported.

The 73-year-old, who led Malaysia from 2009 to 2018, is serving a sentence for corruption linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the state investment fund he co-founded while in power. He has consistently denied wrongdoing.

Court clears the way after days of dispute

"In accordance with the order of conditional pardon, the accused shall serve the remainder of the reduced sentence of six years' imprisonment under house arrest," Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Aslam Zainuddin said on Tuesday. The order took effect immediately, the Bernama news agency reported.

Najib had been granted a conditional pardon in September. He was expected to leave jail last Friday after his political party paid a fine of about $12 million, one of the conditions of the pardon. However, the attorney-general stepped in at the last minute and suspended the transfer, saying questions had arisen over the legal interpretation of the pardon issued by King Sultan Ibrahim and of an earlier court order allowing Najib to leave prison.

As we reported at the time, the Najib house arrest was postponed pending a legal review. On Saturday, the king warned that any attempt to challenge his order could amount to defying a pardon that was "clear, explicit and without any ambiguity".

Why the Najib house arrest matters

The case has become a test of the balance of power between Malaysia's monarchy, courts and government. Malaysia's king, a role that rotates among the country's nine hereditary state rulers, is largely ceremonial but holds discretionary constitutional powers to grant pardons.

Reporting from outside the court, Al Jazeera's Rob McBride said the episode had "caused all manner of political and constitutional controversy in Malaysia", adding that the king had made plain he was unhappy with the attorney-general's intervention and that it set a very difficult precedent.

Key facts about the case:

• The 1MDB scheme siphoned off as much as $4.5 billion, according to US investigators.
• Prosecutors say more than $1 billion ended up in accounts linked to Najib.
• The house arrest order covers only his first conviction, with a reduced six-year term.
• In a separate 1MDB-related case last December, he was convicted of abuse of power and money laundering and sentenced to 15 more years in prison, with fines of $2.8 billion.

What comes next

The 15-year sentence from the second case is set to begin after his period of house arrest ends. Najib has appealed that ruling, and his lawyers have asked for the jail term and fines to be halted, citing his poor health and his inability to pay the fines.

Najib remains one of Malaysia's most influential and divisive politicians. He insists he was made a scapegoat for the complex, globe-spanning 1MDB scheme, which remains one of the largest financial scandals in the region's history.

Why it matters to Thailand

Political developments in Malaysia are closely watched in Thailand, which shares a land border with its southern neighbour. Malaysians have become one of the most important groups of travellers to the kingdom, as shown when Malaysia overtook China as Thailand's top tourism market. Investors also follow developments in Kuala Lumpur closely, including big technology commitments such as Google's investment in Malaysia.

The original report was published by Al Jazeera.

Image: Najib Razak during an official visit to Malacanang Palace in Manila in 2012, used to illustrate the Najib house arrest story. Photo by Malacanang Photo Bureau via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.