Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been granted an order to serve the remainder of his reduced six-year prison sentence under house arrest, after his party, UMNO, paid a 50 million ringgit ($12.3 million) fine. Najib’s lawyer said the High Court issued the order on Friday, November 6.
The payment fulfilled a condition attached to royal clemency granted by Malaysia’s king, Sultan Ibrahim. The decision applies only to Najib’s sentence in the SRC International case, not to a separate prison term imposed in another case linked to the 1MDB scandal.
Najib had not been confirmed released from Kajang prison when the order was reported. The order still had to be delivered to the prison and processed, according to The Star. UMNO secretary-general Asyraf Wajid Dusuki said the party had gathered the money through a donation drive.
The order does not cover Najib’s other sentence
Najib was originally sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2020 for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving funds transferred to his bank accounts. His sentence was later reduced to six years, with his release date set for August 23, 2028.
A separate 15-year sentence was imposed in December 2025 in a second case involving corruption and money laundering connected to 1MDB. Najib is appealing that conviction, which also carried an 11.4 billion ringgit fine. The house-arrest order does not apply to that sentence, and Najib could return to prison after August 23, 2028, if his appeal fails, The Associated Press reported.
Najib was prime minister from 2009 to 2018 and co-founded the state investment fund at the center of the 1MDB scandal. His party, the United Malays National Organization, lost power in the 2018 election but is now part of the governing coalition formed in 2022.
Nicole French