KUALA LUMPUR: Pardons granted to those convicted over 1MDB-related crimes will have no bearing on the government’s asset recovery efforts, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
Civil claims differ from criminal proceedings in their legal basis and evidentiary requirements, finance minister Anwar Ibrahim said.
Anwar said the government's and 1MDB’s right to continue pursuing civil claims hinges on the basis of their claims, the available evidence and court orders.
“Similarly, any attempt to seize assets must comply with the relevant laws and legal requirements.
“The government remains committed in its efforts to recover 1MDB-linked assets,” he said in a written parliamentary reply.
Anwar said this in response to Howard Lee (PH-Ipoh Timur) who wanted the government to guarantee that recovery of 1MDB-linked assets would not be impacted by developments revolving around any convict’s sentence.
In September, former prime minister Najib Razak was granted a conditional pardon allowing him to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest until Aug 23, 2028, subject to payment of a RM50 million fine.
Najib, 73, has been serving a reduced six-year prison sentence at Kajang prison after the Federal Territories Pardons Board halved his original 12-year sentence in February 2024. The initial RM210 million fine was also reduced to RM50 million.
He was imprisoned in August 2022 after the Federal Court dismissed his final appeal in the SRC International case.
In December 2025, Najib was convicted of abuse of power and money laundering involving more than RM2 billion linked to 1MDB. He was sentenced to 15 years’ jail and fined RM11.38 billion. He is appealing the conviction.
Earlier this year, then Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief Azam Baki said the country could recover another US$2 billion (RM8.16 billion) in assets linked to the 1MDB scandal by the end of next year.
Azam said the assets would be the last of those misappropriated.
As of 2025, Malaysia has recovered RM31.3 billion, or 74.53% of the RM42 billion misappropriated from 1MDB.