Najib house arrest: Govt still waiting for official pardon notification, says Saifuddin

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the government is still waiting for the official written notification on the conditional pardon granted to former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

He said the Home Ministry and Prison Department had yet to receive the official decision following the Pardons Board’s meeting yesterday.

“Only after receiving the notification will we know what further action needs to be taken to implement the decision in accordance with existing laws,” he told reporters in Kedah today.

Saifuddin said the notification would normally be conveyed by the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department, which serves as the Pardons Board’s secretariat.

Yesterday, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar granted Najib a conditional pardon, allowing him to serve the remainder of his jail sentence under house arrest, provided the former Pekan MP pays a RM50 million fine and complies with all conditions.

Attorney-General Dusuki Mokhtar confirmed that the pardon applies only to the jail sentence imposed on Najib in the SRC International case, in which he was convicted of seven counts of criminal breach of trust, abuse of power, and money laundering involving more than RM42 million.

Najib was convicted on all seven charges by the High Court in July 2020 following a lengthy trial, and sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined RM210 million.

He began serving his sentence on Aug 23, 2022, after both the Court of Appeal and Federal Court dismissed his appeals and upheld his conviction.

Implementation unclear

Commenting further, Saifuddin said the government would need to examine the details of the decision before determining how it should be implemented, including whether the board had specified the premises where Najib would serve his house arrest or left the matter to the Prison Department.

“House arrest means he would not be in prison but would be at another premises, and there would certainly be processes involved.

“That is why, for now, it is better for me to comment only after the official notification, because we need to see whether there are other decisions that were considered, discussed, and subsequently made,” he said.

READ MORE: Prison Dept visits Najib's home to assess suitability for house arrest

Saifuddin also referred to the previous Pardons Board decision, which reduced Najib’s 12-year prison sentence to six years and his RM210 million fine to RM50 million.

Under that decision, Najib would be released on Aug 23, 2028 if he paid the reduced RM50 million fine, or Aug 23, 2029 if he did not.

No house arrest law

Asked about legislation governing house arrest, Saifuddin said Malaysia at this juncture has no specific law for it.

He said he previously obtained cabinet agreement in principle to introduce a House Arrest Bill, stressing that the proposal was originally intended to address prison overcrowding involving remand detainees.

Malaysia has 41 prisons housing about 93,000 inmates, despite a combined capacity of 75,000, he said.

Under the proposed mechanism, remand detainees could be placed under house arrest and monitored using electronic devices until their trial dates.

The bill was never passed into law. In June, however, Saifuddin’s deputy, Shamsul Anuar Nasarah, tabled a bill to amend the Prisons Act 1995, which was subsequently referred to the relevant parliamentary special select committees following opposition from MPs across the political divide.

COMMENT | Build a 'tahu malu' society: Disclose all documents on Najib's pardon

Prison Dept visits Najib's home to assess suitability for house arrest

1MDB case status remains unchanged after Najib's conditional pardon - MACC

Harapan leaders pan Umno fund to pay Najib's RM50m fine