Kuala Lumpur (AFP) – The Kuala Lumpur High Court on Tuesday cleared the way for jailed former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to be transferred to house arrest after the attorney general challenged an earlier decision.

Published on: 10/11/2026 - 11:38 Modified on: 10/11/2026 - 12:02

The former Prime Minister has been serving a six-year prison sentence since 2022 for his role in the resounding corruption scandal involving a sovereign fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

"In accordance with the conditional pardon order, the accused will serve the remainder of his reduced sentence, six years' imprisonment, under house arrest," said Justice Aslam Zainuddin of the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Mr. Najib is expected to be transferred from prison to his home, where he is to be placed under house arrest on Tuesday, his lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah announced.

A first house arrest announced on Friday was blocked by the courts.

"Yes, he will be today (Tuesday) at number 11 in Langgak Duta," the defense lawyer told reporters, referring to Mr. Najib's home.

Mr. Najib was convicted for his role in the resounding corruption scandal involving the now dissolved sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, which triggered investigations notably in the United States, Switzerland and Singapore.

The misappropriation of hundreds of millions of dollars from the 1MDB fund - supposed to work for the economic development of Malaysia - for private expenses such as a giant yacht or works of art, was decisive in the defeat in the legislative elections in 2018 of Mr. Najib and his party, the United Malays National Organization (Umno), in power since the independence of this former British colony in 1957.

Sultan Ibrahim granted the 73-year-old former prime minister a conditional pardon in September, allowing him to serve the remainder of his sentence at home on the condition that he pay a $12 million fine.

On Friday, Mr. Najib's party indicated that this fine had been paid, a condition for leaving prison.

But the country's attorney general immediately blocked the ex-prime minister's house arrest, saying his office needed more clarification on the pardon.

On Saturday, the king declared that there was nothing to clarify, saying that this pardon was “without any ambiguity”. “There must be no confusion of interpretation,” Sultan Ibrahim said in a statement, adding that the measure was not linked to any other case targeting the former leader.

Mr. Najib was also sentenced last December to 15 years' imprisonment for abuse of power and money laundering in another part of the case, a sentence supposed to be served after the first of six years. He appealed.

© 2026 AFP

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.