Malaysia's Ex-PM Najib Sees House Arrest Reversed Within Hours: RM50 Million Fine Paid, Then Attorney General Halts Transfer
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's move to house arrest unravelled within a single day on November 6: he paid a RM50 million fine (about $12.32 million) in the morning and was cleared by a court to leave prison, only for the Attorney-General's Chambers to suspend the transfer hours later, leaving him in jail.
Reuters reported on November 6 that Najib's party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), paid the RM50 million fine on his behalf that morning. The money was raised through crowdfunding and was a condition of a royal pardon. The Kuala Lumpur High Court earlier on Friday cleared him to begin house arrest, and he left prison briefly for a scheduled dental checkup, according to Transport Minister Anthony Loke. Police and throngs of media had gathered outside Najib's cordoned-off Kuala Lumpur residence in anticipation of his arrival.
But the Attorney-General's Chambers said late on Friday that questions had arisen over the legal interpretation of King Sultan Ibrahim's pardon and the court order allowing Najib to leave jail. "The implementation of house arrest… should be temporarily suspended until further investigation and clarification," it said in a three-page statement, adding that Najib should remain at his current place of detention, Kajang Prison, during the suspension.
Najib was prime minister from 2009 to 2018 and was jailed over the multi-billion-dollar scandal at state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). On September 18, the king granted him a conditional pardon allowing him to serve the remaining two years of his sentence at home, until August 23, 2028, subject to payment of the RM50 million fine. Najib has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the 1MDB case, saying he was made the scapegoat for a complex, globe-spanning scheme that siphoned away as much as $4.5 billion, according to U.S. investigators, with more than $1 billion allegedly ending up in accounts linked to him.
Najib was also convicted in a separate 1MDB-related case in December 2025 of abuse of power and money laundering and sentenced to 15 years in prison with fines of $2.8 billion; he has appealed that verdict. The house-arrest arrangement covers only the six-year sentence he has been serving at Kajang Prison since August 2022.
Najib's legal team said there was no lawful reason to keep him in jail in disregard of a royal order, calling the suspension "executive overreach." Transport Minister Loke, leader of the Democratic Action Party, the largest member of the ruling bloc, said on November 6 that he would resign from the cabinet as soon as Najib begins house arrest. UMNO is part of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's multi-party government, and Anwar's Pakatan Harapan alliance has long opposed leniency toward Najib, so the house-arrest question could deepen tensions inside the ruling coalition.
Source: Attorney General's Chambers of Malaysia
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：马来西亚前总理纳吉布·拉扎克（资料图）。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，公共领域。 / Photo: Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak (file photo). Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
