Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) – Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has left prison to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest, following a decision by the High Court yesterday to uphold a royal pardon. The move has drawn criticism and reignited the debate over the fight against corruption in the country.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, without explicitly mentioning his predecessor, addressed the matter in two Facebook posts, in which he cited Islamic teachings on justice.
The development has also impacted the stability of the governing coalition; in fact, just hours after the Court’s decision, Transport Minister Anthony Loke announced his resignation.
Loke serves as the secretary-general of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), which backs Anwar’s government, but opposed granting Najib house arrest. He had submitted a letter of resignation in September, when clemency was first granted, but agreed to remain in the cabinet temporarily at Anwar’s request.
In the first of his posts, Anwar shared a hadith,[*]as narrated by Aisha, the Prophet Muhammad’s wife. The cited text asserts that the law must be applied without regard for social status or family ties. Even the Prophet’s daughter, Fatima, would have had to face the prescribed punishment had she committed theft, so says the Hadith.
In a subsequent statement, the prime minister wrote that not even “centuries of service” to the country can justify the plundering of the nation’s wealth. He further urged those who oppose corruption to make their voices heard, asserting that anyone who commits such crimes belongs in prison.
Although Anwar did not explicitly name Najib, his statements came as the former prime minister, now 73, getting ready to leave Kajang Prison.
In 2020, Najib was convicted of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust, and money laundering for transferring 42 million ringgit (about US$ 10 million) from the accounts of SRC International, a company controlled by the sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
The Federal Court, the country’s highest judicial body, upheld the conviction in August 2022, imposing a 12-year prison sentence and a fine of 210 million ringgit.
In January 2024, the Pardons Board halved the prison term and reduced the fine to 50 million ringgit. Then, on 18 September of this year, King Sultan Ibrahim granted Najib further clemency, allowing him to serve the remainder of his sentence, until 23 August 2028, under house arrest, provided that the fine is paid.
Last Friday, UMNO, the Malaysian nationalist party which Najib once led, announced that it had raised and paid the 50 million ringgit required to meet the financial condition stipulated in the royal pardon.
The party explained that the sum was raised through a crowdfunding campaign, and its president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who also serves as deputy prime minister in Anwar’s government, stated that the party is prepared to provide the authorities with details regarding the fundraising.
However, this willingness to cooperate with investigators has not satisfied those who are demanding that the names of the donors and the origin of the funds be made public.
The matter is delicate for UMNO, which is part of the coalition supporting Anwar’s government, an administration that has made the fight against corruption a cornerstone of its agenda.
For many analysts, UMNO should disclose the details of the fundraising effort to avoid a political crisis.
Meanwhile, the High Court has reaffirmed that Najib must remain under house arrest until 23 August 2028. According to the ruling, he will then have to surrender to Kajang Prison to serve a sentence related to a separate, ongoing legal proceeding concerning the 1MDB fund.
In December 2025, in a second trial, Najib was sentenced to 15 years in prison for abuse of power and money laundering, linked to the sovereign wealth fund, a verdict he has since appealed.
The 1MDB case stands as one of the worst financial scandals of recent decades. Investigations by the United States Department of Justice suggest that about US$ 4.5 billion was siphoned from the fund, which had been established in 2009 to finance economic development projects.
Najib, who was prime minister at the time and chaired the fund’s advisory board, has always denied acting with intent, claiming instead that he was deceived by other officials and financier Jho Low, a version of events that the courts have rejected.
[*] Compilation of the sayings and traditions associated with the Prophet Muhammad.
