The Attorney-General’s request to appeal a ruling that gave former prime minister Najib Razak access to a document he claims allows him to serve his final prison sentence while he is still on house arrest was granted by Malaysia’s top court on Monday ( Apr 28 ).
Najib, who is currently imprisoned for his part in the multi-billion money 1MDB scandal, is pursuing legal action to convince authorities to verify and do a royal order he claimed was issued last year as part of a reprimand issued by the then king, allowing him to provide the remainder of his sentence at home.
A three-member Federal Court bench unanimously decided that the Attorney-General was challenge a lower judge’s January decision in favor of Najib’s request to get the alleged file, with hearings scheduled for July 1 and 2.
In a reprimand issued by the then-King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah, the former top received a 12-year word that was reduced. Authorities ignored Najb’s claim that his “addendum purchase” to the pardon that took him to his house detention.
The previous king’s palace has issued a letter claiming the document is genuine, but Malaysia’s law government claims there is no evidence for it, its home minister denies information, and Anwar Ibrahim, the prime minister, asserts that” we did not hide anything.”
Najib was found innocent in 2020 of a criminal breach of trust and energy abuse for stealing money from a Malaysian Development Berhad system without authorization. He is accused of corruption in several other 1MDB-linked situations and denies any crime.