KUALA LUMPUR — Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will serve the remaining two years of his abuse of power sentence under house arrest, the government announced Friday. The arrangement requires him to return some of the nearly $540 million stolen from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) sovereign wealth fund.
Attorney General Tan Sri Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar said Saturday that Najib must first pay an RM50 million fine at the Kuala Lumpur High Court Registrar's Office. This payment is a prerequisite for the house arrest process to proceed.
Najib was ousted from office and convicted of graft in 2020 following his role in the multi-billion-dollar looting of the 1MDB fund, which became a global scandal.
The Malaysian king granted the allowance for house arrest for the abuse of power sentence. This decision does not extend to a separate case from December where Najib was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The terms of house arrest include a condition that the former prime minister comply with all pardon-related requirements. The method for tracking Najib during home confinement remains unclear, according to local reports.
