Najib to get out of jail in 2028, fine reduced
Malaysia’s jailed former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak will now leave prison earlier after his sentence was halved by the nation’s Pardon’s Board.
This comes after days of speculation. The board had met on Monday (Jan 29) and the meeting was chaired by the outgoing Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.
Al-Sultan Abdullah ended his five-year reign on Jan 30. Malaysia’s 17th King, Sultan Ibrahim of Johor, took his oath of office the following day.
In a highly anticipated statement issued this afternoon, the secretariat of the Federal Territories Pardon’s Board had deliberated on five applications, including Najib’s.
Najib was earlier sentenced to 12 years in jail for graft and abuse of power for misappropriating RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd. He was also fined RM210 million.
The Pardon’s Board today announced that Najib would receive a 50 per cent reduction in sentence. This means he will be released on Aug 23, 2028 instead of 2034, and will have to pay a fine of RM50 million.
In the event he fails to pay the fine, another year will be added to Najib’s jail term, and he would only be released on Aug 23, 2029.
In 2022, Najib became the first Malaysian prime minister to be convicted and sentenced to jail for abuse of power and corruption.
Najib’s final bid to appeal his July 2020 conviction by the Kuala Lumpur High Court was set aside after the Federal Court upheld the High Court’s conviction and sentence on seven charges of abuse of power, money laundering, and criminal breach of trust over the SRC funds.
Last-minute attempts by Najib’s team of lawyers, among others, to adduce new evidence alleging a conflict of interest by trial judge Datuk Nazlan Ghazali, and an application to recuse Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat from hearing his appeal, were entertained by the apex court during the final appeal hearing.
In her ruling, Tengku Maimun, who led a five-member bench, said the court was of the opinion that the High Court was correct to call Najib to enter his defence. She also said Najib’s defence was so “inherently inconsistent” that it did not raise a reasonable doubt on the prosecution’s case.
She added that the conviction against Najib was safe on all seven charges and that the sentence was not excessive.
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