Najib Razak has asked Malaysia’s High Court to stay a separate 15-year term pending an appeal against his 1MDB-linked conviction. The court will rule on October 14. Najib remains jailed after last week’s conditional pardon for an earlier conviction.
Najib’s separate 15-year term stems from a conviction in a 1MDB corruption case in December last year and would begin after his house-arrest period. The conditional pardon granted last week allows him to serve the remainder of his earlier sentence under house arrest until an expected August 2028 release, if he pays 50 million ringgit ($12.27 million); his lawyer says the legal team has yet to receive official documents confirming the terms. US and Malaysian investigators say at least $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB, with about $1 billion going into accounts linked to Najib, who maintains his innocence.
His lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said Najib has so far been unable to pay the fine because many of his assets remain frozen by the government. Shafee said there was a “good chance” Najib would be released the same day if he paid and the court granted the stay. Najib’s party, the United Malays National Organisation, has started a fundraising drive for his release.
