Malaysia's jailed ex-PM Najib to argue appeal for house arrest

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's jailed ex-leader Najib Razak will begin his defence this week against graft charges tied to more than US$500 million in alleged bribes, and argue to serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest.

The former prime minister, already serving a six-year jail term for corruption related to the plunder of sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, faces several other cases linked to the financial scandal that led to his defeat in 2018 elections.

At the High Court on Monday, the 71-year-old will start his defence against four counts of abuse of power linked to 2.27 billion ringgit (US$510 million) in alleged bribes and 21 counts of money laundering.

The case involves Tanore Finance Corp, which US authorities have said was used to siphon money from 1MDB.

Najib issued an apology in October that the 1MDB scandal happened during his tenure, but maintained he had no knowledge of illegal transfers from the now-defunct state fund.

If convicted, Najib faces hefty fines and sentences of up to 20 years for each count of abuse of power.

Najib's lead lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, has said they were "more determined" than ever to fight the case.

BID FOR HOUSE ARREST

Separately, the Court of Appeal will on Thursday hear Najib's challenge against a lower court's refusal to hear his request for house arrest.

His application for a judicial review centres on the purported existence of an order by the former king, granting him permission to serve the rest of his sentence at home.

Najib asked the court to compel the government to confirm the royal decree's existence and to implement its order.

But the court ruled in July that affidavits supporting Najib's claim were inadmissible as evidence, because they were hearsay.

The supposed document has not been made public and there has been no comment from the former king, whose term in the largely ceremonial role ended in January.

If the appeals court rules in Najib's favour, the case will go back to the lower court.

There has also been speculation he could benefit from a proposed law allowing house arrest as an alternative punishment for select offences next year.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's government has denied the Bill was tailored to get Najib out of jail.

Andrew Khoo, a lawyer in Kuala Lumpur, said Najib faces an uphill battle in his bid for house arrest, as he was sentenced for a serious offence.

"It would send the wrong message to the public at large that even those convicted of serious offences can serve their jail sentence from home," he told AFP.

SUPERYACHT AND ART

Allegations that billions of dollars were pilfered from investment vehicle 1MDB and used to buy everything from a superyacht to artwork played a major role in prompting voters to oust Najib and the long-ruling United Malays National Organisation party in the 2018 elections.

The 1MDB scandal sparked investigations in the United States, Switzerland and Singapore, whose financial systems were believed to have been used to launder the money.

The US Justice Department has said more than US$4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB between 2009 and 2015 by high-level officials at the fund and their associates.

Najib began serving a 12-year jail term in August 2022 for offences linked to the misuse of public money from former 1MDB unit SRC International. The sentence was later halved by Malaysia's pardons board.

Since then, Najib has had some legal victories.

On November 27, a Malaysian court allowed corruption charges in one of the five cases linked to 1MDB to be dropped against him.

Those charges were related to payments of more than US$1 billion allegedly made to Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company.

Another charge of audit tampering ended with an acquittal in 2023.