Malaysia's King Moves Ex-PM Najib to House Arrest
Malaysia's King Moves Ex-PM Najib to House Arrest
The News
Malaysia's king has granted former Prime Minister Najib Razak clemency, letting him serve the rest of his corruption sentence under house arrest instead of in prison.
The country's pardons board, which the king chairs, agreed to the move on Friday, the prime minister's legal department said, according to Reuters.
Najib has spent the last four years behind bars over a conviction tied to 1MDB, the multibillion-dollar state fund scandal that Bloomberg calls Malaysia's biggest corruption case.
Timeline
Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter, that Najib's bid for another royal intervention in his 1MDB conviction will be taken up that day by the Pardons Board, which is headed by the king.
A cabinet minister who sits on the pardons board is seen at the royal palace, an aide to the minister and a Reuters journalist said, fueling speculation that the board was meeting on the clemency bid.
The board agrees to let Najib serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest, the prime minister's legal department tells Reuters. Bloomberg reports the decision as a reprieve after four years in prison.
Reactions
The decision was confirmed publicly by the prime minister's legal department, Reuters reported — the government channel that handled the announcement rather than the palace itself.
The Independent described the outcome as a rare royal clemency for a former national leader.
Bloomberg framed it as a win for Najib, who remains a central figure in the 1MDB scandal, and as a reprieve after four years in custody.
What's Next
Najib is set to serve out the balance of his sentence at home rather than in prison. The sources in this story do not spell out the conditions of that house arrest, how long it runs, or when the transfer takes effect.
Watch for the terms of the order from Malaysian authorities, and for political fallout in a country where Najib's conviction was a defining test of whether a sitting government would hold a former prime minister to account.
More
1MDB was the Malaysian state investment fund at the center of the scandal that ended Najib's premiership; his conviction was, in Bloomberg's words, part of the country's biggest corruption case.
Friday's decision was the second time Najib has sought royal intervention in the case, according to Bloomberg's description of the bid as a request for "another royal intervention."
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