Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has denied allegations that his government concealed any document related to the home detention of jailed former Prime Minister Najib Razak, according to state media.
Najib, serving a prison sentence for his involvement in the country’s largest financial scandal, has been pressing the government to acknowledge and implement an “addendum order.” This document, he claims, was issued by Malaysia’s former king alongside a pardon granted last year. Najib asserts that the order permits him to serve the remainder of his jail term at home.
The former king, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah, who chaired the special pardons board, reduced Najib’s original 12-year sentence by half through a royal pardon. Al-Sultan Abdullah’s five-year term as king ended in January 2024 under Malaysia’s rotational monarchy system.
Both Najib and the former king’s palace have affirmed the document’s existence. Najib’s legal representatives allege that authorities have ignored the document.
Prime Minister Anwar, addressing the matter, stated that the document was sent to the attorney general, not to him or any other member of the pardons board. “The attorney-general then forwarded the document to the palace when there was a change of king, as it is the king who chairs the pardons board. We did not hide anything,” Anwar said, as reported by Bernama.
Malaysia’s law ministry, however, announced on Friday that it has no record of any document authorizing Najib’s house arrest. It also clarified that no official notification or instruction regarding the matter had been received from the royal palace. Furthermore, both the home and communications ministers have stated they were unaware of the document’s existence.
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Najib was convicted in 2020 for criminal breach of trust and abuse of power, stemming from the misappropriation of funds from a unit of the state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). He faces multiple ongoing trials for other 1MDB-related corruption charges, all of which he denies.
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On Monday, the Court of Appeal overturned a lower court’s dismissal of Najib’s legal bid to access the document. The case is now set to be reheard by another judge.
