'Why was RM50m accepted?': Najib's daughter slams delays in house arrest

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s daughter has questioned why the Kuala Lumpur High Court accepted the payment of an RM50 million fine to facilitate his house arrest if there were still obstacles preventing his release from Kajang Prison.

Nooryana Najwa’s demand for clarity on the matter came after drama surrounding her father’s supposed release from the prison yesterday, with Najib initially expected to return to his Jalan Langgak Duta home to serve out his house arrest, only for such plans to eventually be dashed.

Taking to Instagram last night, Nooryana (above) emphasised that Najib’s family was under the impression that the RM50 million payment, which Najib’s lawyers fulfilled yesterday morning via donations to a fundraising drive set up by Umno, was the main prerequisite for his house arrest.

This, she said in a video, is according to the Sept 18 conditional pardon granted to Najib by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar following a Pardons Board meeting.

“As a daughter, I am very disappointed - we have followed what was stipulated in the conditional royal pardon: we raised funds, we paid the RM50 million fine, (and) we followed the set processes.

“If there are additional conditions (for Najib’s house arrest), why were we not informed earlier? If there are still obstacles, why was the RM50 million payment accepted?” she pressed.

She added that the family is now brought back to their “bitter experience” regarding Najib’s previous bid for house arrest, with the Puteri Umno information chief referring to the contentious addendum in the February 2024 royal pardon for the former Umno president.

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“What is happening now reminds us of the bitter experience of the previous addendum order - so much back and forth, uncertainty, and delay after delay.

“Every time we feel Daddy (Najib) is getting closer to coming home, there is a new obstacle. Until when? We are only asking for justice and transparency. We want the king's order to be respected and the rule of law upheld,” she stressed.

Nooryana also said that while the family was first told that Najib would be home by 5pm, his estimated time of arrival was later pushed to 8.30pm. She added that at around 2pm, she was notified of efforts by the Home Ministry to “delay” Najib’s release.

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Temporary halt

Yesterday evening, hours after Najib left Kajang Prison earlier in the afternoon, the Attorney-General’s Chambers called for an immediate temporary suspension of his house arrest pending clarification of legal questions surrounding his conditional pardon.

The legal queries mentioned by the AGC centre on the Sept 18 conditional pardon, with the AGC noting that various interpretations of the order need to be examined before any action is taken.

While the AGC said Najib’s detention status should be maintained at his "existing place of detention,” understood to be referring to Kajang Prison, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail had earlier gazetted Najib's home at Jalan Langgak Duta as a prison.

The statement was met with an outcry from Najib’s lawyers, who pointed out that Attorney-General Dusuki Mokhtar is a member of the Pardons Board and was present during the Sept 18 Pardons Board meeting that advised His Majesty.

Cautioning that the AGC’s current stand could amount to contempt or treason against the King, Messrs Shafee & Co demanded that the Prisons Department expedite Najib’s release into house arrest while challenging the AGC to bring its questions over the conditional pardon to court.

Clear explanation needed

In a separate statement last night, Umno information chief Azalina Othman Said called on the AGC to explain why issues over its interpretations of the conditional pardon order were only raised publicly after the payment of Najib’s RM50 million fine.

“Umno respects the attorney-general's position as the principal legal adviser to the government (and) urges the AGC to immediately explain the legal basis for the deferral of the execution of house arrest,” said the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform).

Expressing similar sentiments, PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan asserted that the AGC should have addressed earlier any potential issues with the conditional pardon order.

In particular, he referred to the AGC’s concern about how the order could affect Najib’s separate 1MDB-related sentences, considering how the Kuala Lumpur High Court had on Oct 14 rejected his application to postpone the execution of the sentences imposed in that case.

“If the matter to be examined and taken into account relates to the High Court’s rejection (of Najib’s sentences stay application), the AGC should have obtained clarification from the court on that date, instead of waiting after he went through the trouble of raising financial funds to pay off the fine imposed on him.

“The government, particularly the AGC as the custodian of the public interest, must provide a clear explanation without hiding anything from the public as to why the execution of the sentence appears to be delayed,” Takiyuddin said in a statement yesterday.

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