Former Malaysian leader Najib Razak, jailed for his role in the country’s 1MDB corruption scandal, has been granted house arrest subject to paying a $12 million fine, officials said on Friday.
Najib, 73, was jailed for his role in one of the largest-ever global plunders of a sovereign wealth fund, the now-defunct 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
The former leader’s supporters welcomed the decision, but an opponent and 1MDB whistleblower called on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to disclose the details of the decision.
Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim “granted a conditional pardon... allowing him (Najib) to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest until 23 August 2028,” lawyers from Anwar’s office said.
The conditional pardon was “subject to the payment of a fine of 50 million Malaysian Ringgit ($12.2 million),” the legal affairs division officials said in a statement.
Najib “must comply with all set conditions. If he fails to comply with any of these terms, the conditional pardon will be automatically revoked, and he must immediately serve the remainder of his sentence in prison,” the statement said.
A Malaysian judge late last year rejected an original request to allow Najib to serve the rest of his time at home.
Najib was sentenced to 12 years in prison in July 2020 in a first trial over vast sums of money siphoned from a former 1MDB subsidiary called SRC International Sdn Bhd.
But a pardons board later halved the term, and his fine was reduced to 50 million ringgit.
His sentence in this case is scheduled to be completed by August 2028.
Days after Najib’s December bid for house arrest was turned down, the ex-PM was again sentenced to another 15 years behind bars in a separate trial, also linked to the 1MDB graft scandal.
Najib has also been fined 11.4 billion ringgit for his role in the corruption scandal, which took place more than a decade ago.
He is currently appealing the 15-year sentence, which is only set to start once the six-year sentence is completed.
The son of one of Malaysia’s founding fathers, Najib was groomed for leadership from a young age but fell from power spectacularly as public anger mounted over the corruption scandal.
Investigations under successive governments have ensnared him and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, in graft allegations since his loss in 2018 elections.
Najib’s UMNO party, which ruled the Southeast Asian nation for six decades until losing its grip on power that year, on Friday welcomed the Malaysian king’s pardon.
“This development is deeply meaningful for him and his family, as well as for the entire UMNO family, who have steadfastly maintained hope and offered prayers throughout this time,” the party said in a statement.
But former Malaysian economy minister Rafizi Ramli, a 1MDB whistleblower and vocal corruption critic, said news of Najib’s house arrest will be “received differently by different segments of Malaysian society.”
“Some will be angry. Some will be disappointed. Others will be pleased,” he said in a statement.
The onus, Rafizi said, was now on Prime Minister Anwar “to explain the decision to release Dato’ Seri Najib into house arrest, if only to address the concerns of those who are disappointed by it.”
Prosecutors said Najib abused his positions as prime minister, finance minister and 1MDB advisory board chairman to move vast sums from the fund into his personal accounts.
According to investigators, proceeds from the fund were used to bankroll high-end real estate, a luxury yacht and precious artworks, including a Monet and a Van Gogh.
Fugitive financier, Jho Low, who is seen as the mastermind behind one of the biggest financial heists in modern history from a fund meant to spur Malaysian development, is still on the run.
Set up in 2009 under Najib, 1MDB was supposed to serve as an investment vehicle to fund major infrastructure and urban development in the country.
But Low, through his proximity to Najib and other top officials, soon became a pivotal figure in schemes that diverted some $4.5 billion from 1MDB via shell companies and complex financial transactions, US and Malaysian prosecutors said.