KUALA LUMPUR — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has lodged an appeal against the High Court’s decision to reject his request to serve the remainder of his six-year sentence for the SRC case at home.
Lawyer Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee confirmed the filing of the appeal last Wednesday.
“The notice of appeal for the addendum was filed on the 24th,” he said, as quoted by the Malay Mail.
The High Court ruled on Monday (December 22) that the addendum, or order for Najib’s house arrest, was invalid. The ruling stated that the order had not been made during a meeting of the Pardons Board and did not follow the procedures outlined in the Federal Constitution.
Najib has been incarcerated at Kajang Prison since August 2022, serving a sentence related to the misappropriation of RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd. His six-year sentence is set to end in either August 2028 or August 2029, depending on whether he pays the RM50 million fine imposed in the case. However, his release could come sooner if he is granted a one-third remission for good behaviour.
In a separate matter, the High Court on Friday (December 26) found Najib guilty of all four charges of abuse of power and 21 charges of money laundering related to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, involving over RM2 billion in misappropriated funds.
Muhammad Farhan confirmed to Malay Mail today that Najib has not yet filed an appeal against the High Court’s ruling in the 1MDB case. The appeal will be lodged after his legal team receives and verifies the written court order on the sentence.
Under the High Court’s sentencing in the 1MDB case, Najib faces a maximum of 15 years in jail, as the sentences for each charge will run concurrently. The court ordered that Najib serve his 1MDB jail term only after completing his six-year sentence for the SRC case.
In addition to the jail term, Najib was fined RM11.38 billion (with 10 years’ jail in default) for the abuse of power charges, and RM2.08 billion (with two years and six months’ jail in default) for the money laundering charges.
Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah on Friday confirmed the intention to appeal the 15-year sentence and RM11.38 billion fine. He described the judgment delivered by Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah as flawed, asserting that there were “50 to 100” points that the defence would challenge.
“We believe, with the greatest of respect to the judge, he has made numerous blunders in this judgment,” Shafee said during a press conference at the High Court. “You cannot have that many mistakes in a judgment of this importance.”
He further criticised Sequerah’s rejection of objections raised by the defence regarding the use of hearsay evidence, which is generally inadmissible under the Evidence Act 1950 unless it falls within specified exceptions.
The court had earlier found Najib guilty of four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering, involving RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds transferred into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
Najib was sentenced to 15 years in prison for each of the abuse of power charges, with the sentences running concurrently. He was also sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for each of the money laundering charges and ordered to repay RM2.08 billion. – December 29, 2025