Najib pending homecoming cut short; court rejects bid to stay 1MDB prison sentence

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak won't get to stay at home for long if he can pay the RM50 million fine needed for him to be transferred to house arrest.

This is because the Kuala Lumpur High Court today rejected his application to postpone the execution of his sentences for 1MDB-related charges.

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak won't get to stay at home for long if he can pay the RM50 million fine needed for him to be transferred to house arrest.

This is because the Kuala Lumpur High Court today rejected his application to postpone the execution of his sentences for 1MDB-related charges.

This means that - pending further appeals - when Najib's SRC International sentence ends on Aug 23, 2028, he will have to go back to prison.

In her ruling today, judge Noor Ruwena Nurdin found that there were no special circumstances to allow Najib’s application to stay the execution of his 1MDB sentence.

The High Court convicted Najib on all four counts of abuse of power and 21 money laundering charges linked to the 1MDB scandal in December last year.

Presiding judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah sentenced him to 15 years’ imprisonment for each of his four abuse of power charges and five years each for the 21 charges of money laundering.

However, Collin ordered that the jail terms run concurrently, meaning Najib would only have to serve 15 years’ imprisonment for the 25 offences committed.

Collin also ordered for Najib’s 1MDB-related sentence to begin after he exhausted the sentences for his SRC International-related convictions.

Najib, 73, then filed his application to stay the sentences on Sept 22 this year, seeking to pause the execution of 15 years’ imprisonment and a RM11.38 billion fine until all his avenues of appeal are exhausted.

[More to follow]