PUTRAJAYA – The cabinet did not discuss Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s bid for a judicial review to serve his remaining prison sentence under house arrest.
The former prime minister was previously ordered to serve in prison until 2028 after his 12-year sentence was cut down to six.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil confirmed that Najib’s application, which was filed on April 1, did not come up during today’s cabinet meeting.
“(The matter was) not discussed,” the government spokesperson briefly told a post-cabinet meeting press conference here, when asked about Najib’s judicial review application.
He also denied having any knowledge regarding the supposed January 29 addendum order, which Najib claimed was issued by the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong to allow him to serve his remaining jail term under “house arrest”.
In his application, Najib requested the respondents to confirm the addendum order’s existence – and if so, for them to execute the order, provide original copies of it, and discuss any necessary reliefs the court deemed fit.
Najib named as respondents the home minister, the commissioner-general of the Prisons Department, the attorney-general, the Federal Territories’ Pardons Board, and the government.
The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (law and institutional reform) and the director-general of the legal affairs division in the Prime Minister’s Department were also listed as respondents.
The application will be heard at the Kuala Lumpur High Court tomorrow.
On July 29, the former Umno president was convicted by the high court of corruption involving RM42 million of funds belonging to SRC International, a former subsidiary of sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
After the Federal Court in August 2022 upheld his guilty verdict, Najib began serving his 12-year jail sentence at the Kajang prison.
However, on February 2, the Pardons Board secretariat for the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan, and Putrajaya announced Najib’s sentence was halved from 12 years to six, along with a decrease in his fine from RM210 million to RM50 million.
Failure to pay the fine would result in an additional year of imprisonment for Najib. – April 3, 2024