Malaysia’s Najib drops appeal to serve 1MDB-linked prison sentence under house arrest

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has dropped his legal bid to serve the remainder of his corruption sentence under house arrest, closing off a closely watched appeal tied to his 2024 royal pardon.

Najib, 72, is serving a six-year jail sentence in Kajang Prison after his original 12-year term for the misappropriation of 42 million ringgit (US$10.6 million) from SRC International was halved by the Pardons Board in 2024.

SRC International was formerly a unit of 1MDB, the state fund at the centre of a global corruption scandal that helped bring down Najib’s government in 2018.

The house-arrest dispute centred on Najib’s claim that an “addendum order” issued alongside his sentence reduction had allowed him to serve the rest of his jail term at home – an assertion that has fuelled debate in Malaysia over royal pardons, executive accountability and whether the former leader was receiving preferential treatment.

According to court documents, lawyers from Shafee & Co informed the Court of Appeal on April 3 that Najib had filed a notice of discontinuance for the appeal.

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The notice, dated April 2, said Najib had decided not to pursue his appeal for house arrest, giving no reason for the withdrawal.

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