Jailed former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has asked a court to suspend a 15-year prison sentence imposed on him for corruption linked to the multibillion-dollar 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, his lawyer said on Friday.
Najib, 73, has been in prison since 2022 after being convicted of graft and money laundering involving billions of dollars stolen from 1MDB, a state fund he co-founded while in office. He has consistently denied wrongdoing.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court is expected to decide on October 14 whether to stay the sentence pending Najib’s appeal against the conviction, his lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told reporters.
The request comes a week after Malaysia’s King, Sultan Ibrahim, granted Najib a conditional pardon over a separate conviction. The decision allows him to serve the remainder of his original sentence under house arrest until his expected release in August 2028, provided he pays a 50 million ringgit ($12.27 million) fine.
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Najib’s additional 15-year sentence, imposed after his conviction in December last year in a separate 1MDB-related case, would begin after his house arrest ends.
Shafee said Najib could be released on the same day if he pays the fine and the court grants the stay. However, he said the conditions of the house arrest remained unclear because Najib’s legal team had yet to receive official documents confirming the royal pardon.
The lawyer added that Najib had been unable to pay the fine because many of his assets remained frozen by the government. His party, the United Malays National Organisation, has launched a fundraising campaign to help secure his release.
US and Malaysian investigators have said at least $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB, with about $1 billion channelled into accounts linked to Najib.
Najib has apologised for mishandling the scandal but maintains that he was misled about the source of funds paid into his accounts.
