Follow-Up: Malaysia's King Calls the Najib Pardon Order "Clear and Unambiguous"; the Attorney-General's Chambers Defends Seeking Court Clarification
KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia's national palace, Istana Negara, issued a statement on November 7 on the dispute over former Prime Minister Najib Razak's house arrest. The conditional pardon granted by King Sultan Ibrahim is "clear, explicit and free from any ambiguity," the statement said; it is not linked to any other cases against Najib, and all the conditions attached to the pardon have been fulfilled. Any argument questioning the order, the palace said, amounts to defying the King's command. The power of pardon under Article 42 of the Federal Constitution is a royal prerogative that must be respected in accordance with the constitutional monarchy and the rule of law.
The palace statement responded to the Attorney-General's Chambers' move the day before. After Najib's party, UMNO, paid his RM50 million fine on November 6 and the Kuala Lumpur High Court cleared him to serve the rest of his sentence at home, the Chambers suspended the transfer, citing unresolved legal questions over the pardon and the court's order; Najib remains in Kajang Prison. The Chambers said on November 7 that it had no intention of defying the King. The issue, it said, is whether the High Court's discharge order means Najib's six-year sentence in the SRC International case has been fully served, or whether the remainder is to be served under house arrest until August 23, 2028. That determination also affects when his separate 15-year sentence, which he is appealing, would begin, so judicial clarification is necessary, it said, to uphold the integrity of the administration of justice.
The Prime Minister's Office said the same day that Attorney-General Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar would seek an audience with the King to apologise and affirm his commitment to implementing the pardon order; Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had instructed him to seek an immediate audience to explain the legal questions. Najib's lawyers, for their part, demanded his immediate transfer to his Kuala Lumpur residence to begin house arrest.
Najib has been in Kajang Prison since August 2022. The pardon covers only his six-year sentence in the SRC International case, not the 15-year sentence imposed in the main 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case.
(Source: Istana Negara)
Source: Istana Negara
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.
- 2026-11-06Malaysia's Ex-PM Najib Sees House Arrest Reversed Within Hours: RM50 Million Fine Paid, Then Attorney General Halts Transfer
- 2026-11-07Follow-Up: Malaysia's King Calls the Najib Pardon Order "Clear and Unambiguous"; the Attorney-General's Chambers Defends Seeking Court ClarificationThis story
