Najib Files Appeal Over House Arrest Addendum

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 29 (Bernama) -- Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has filed an appeal against the High Court ruling that dismissed his judicial review application over an alleged addendum order said to allow him to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest.

His lawyer, Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee, confirmed that a notice of appeal was filed at the Court of Appeal on Dec 24.

He said that an appeal related to Najib’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case would also be filed soon after the defence receives the court’s official order for verification.

On Dec 22, High Court judge Alice Loke Yee Ching rejected the judicial review application after finding that the alleged addendum order was neither deliberated nor decided during the 61st Pardons Board meeting on Jan 29, 2024.

Following the decision, Najib, 72, is required to continue serving his sentence at Kajang Prison, where he has been imprisoned since Aug 23, 2022, after being convicted of misappropriating RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd.

The High Court initially sentenced him to 12 years’ imprisonment and fined him RM210 million, a decision that was subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court.

However, his petition for a royal pardon on Sept 2, 2022, resulted in the Pardons Board halving his prison sentence to six years and reducing his fine to RM50 million.

Last Friday, the High Court sentenced him to 15 years in jail and imposed a total fine of RM11.4 billion after finding him guilty on four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.3 billion in funds linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Justice Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, who handed down the verdict, also ruled that the sentence will only take effect after Najib completes his six-year prison term in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case involving the misappropriation of RM42 million, which ends on Aug 23, 2028.

-- BERNAMA