Malaysian court blocks Najib’s bid for house arrest ahead of key 1MDB verdict

Monday’s decision keeps the former prime minister behind bars as he awaits the outcome of the far larger 1MDB case on Friday

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Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak is escorted by prison officers on his arrival at the Kuala Lumpur High Court Complex on Monday. Photo: AP

Published: 10:11am, 22 Dec 2025Updated: 6:40pm, 22 Dec 2025

Corrected [10:41am, 22 Dec, 2025]

[10:41am, 22 Dec, 2025]
An earlier version of this story from Reuters reported that Najib Razak was released for house arrest. This has since been corrected.

A Malaysian court on Monday dismissed former prime minister Najib Razak’s bid to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest, dealing a setback to his attempt to secure early release from jail.

Najib, 72, is serving a reduced six-year sentence after receiving partial royal clemency earlier this year in the SRC International case, a former subsidiary linked to the scandal-ridden Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, in which he was convicted of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving 42 million ringgit (US$10.3 million).

The ruling shuts down Najib’s months-long effort to force the government to recognise what his lawyers claimed was an additional royal decree authorising house arrest.

“The [decree] was not made following the procedure prescribed under Article 42 of the Federal Constitution and is therefore not a valid order,” Judge Alice Loke Yee Ching said, ruling that the alleged house arrest directive had not been deliberated by the Pardons Board.

Supporters of Malaysia’s jailed former prime minister Najib Razak wait outside the Kuala Lumpur High Court during a court hearing on Monday. Photo: AFP

The board, set up under Article 42, is made up of the attorney general, the federal territories minister and up to three other members appointed by the king, who must preside over it when exercising his powers of clemency.

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Malaysian court blocks Najib’s bid for house arrest ahead of key 1MDB verdict

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Monday’s decision keeps the former prime minister behind bars as he awaits the outcome of the far larger 1MDB case on Friday

Monday’s decision keeps the former prime minister behind bars as he awaits the outcome of the far larger 1MDB case on Friday