Prisons dept yet to receive info on Najib’s house arrest

The prisons department says it has yet to receive official written notification on the conditional pardon granted to former prime minister Najib Razak which will allow him to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest.

In a statement today, the department said it was still awaiting official written notification on the decision before any further action could be taken to implement it.

It said any official notification and documents relating to the Federal Territories Pardons Board’s (FTPB) decision would be conveyed through the appropriate official channels before being submitted to the department for further action.

“The home ministry and the prisons department are still awaiting official written notification regarding the decision before any further action to implement the decision can be determined,” it said.

Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said yesterday the ministry had yet to be formally informed by the FTPB about allowing Najib to serve his remaining jail term under house arrest if he settled his RM50 million fine.

Saifuddin said the ministry and the prisons department cannot make the necessary preparations until they receive the letter and are informed of the details of the conditional pardon.

He declined to comment if Najib’s home at Taman Duta was suitable for him to be placed under house arrest, saying his ministry must first see if the FTPB had already assigned a specific location or left it to the prisons department.

Saifuddin also said Malaysia does not have a specific law concerning house arrest, but pointed out that he was working on a new bill to allow house arrests, particularly for remand detainees.

On Friday, the legal affairs division of the Prime Minister’s Department announced that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had decided to allow Najib to serve the remainder of his six-year jail sentence in his SRC International case under house arrest, provided he pays his RM50 million fine

Najib, 73, has been serving a six-year sentence at Kajang prison since August 2022 after the Federal Court upheld his conviction for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering involving RM42 million belonging to SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.

However, in February 2024, the Federal Territories Pardons Board halved his original 12-year sentence. The original RM210 million fine was also reduced to RM50 million.