ANOTHER significant chapter in Malaysia’s legal history is set to unfold tomorrow when the High Court here rules on whether former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak may serve his prison sentence at home or remain incarcerated at Kajang Prison.
High Court judge Alice Loke is scheduled to deliver her decision at 9am on Najib’s application seeking to compel the government and six other parties to implement the so-called Addendum Order. Najib, 72, is asking the court to recognise and enforce the alleged additional document that he claims allows him to complete his sentence under home detention.
Najib, a Pahang native and former Umno president, has been imprisoned for more than three years since Aug 23, 2022, after being sentenced to six years in jail and fined RM50 million for the misappropriation of RM42 million belonging to SRC International Sdn Bhd.
If his application succeeds, Najib would be transferred from Kajang Prison to his residence in the capital to serve the remainder of his sentence. If the court dismisses the application, he will remain in prison and is scheduled for release on Aug 23, 2028.
On Nov 24, Alice fixed Jan 5 next year for the delivery of the decision after hearing submissions from Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, who appeared for the government and six other respondents. The decision date was later brought forward to Dec 22.
At the same time, the court is also expected to rule on a judicial review application filed by Najib’s lead counsel, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
On Aug 13, the Federal Court in Putrajaya ordered the matter to be remitted to the High Court for a hearing on its merits after dismissing the Attorney General’s application to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision concerning the alleged additional document.
The Federal Court also rejected the Attorney General’s appeal against the appellate court’s ruling that allowed Najib to adduce fresh evidence to support the existence of the addendum.
Following that decision, the former Pekan MP applied for an order of mandamus to compel the respondents to respond to and confirm the existence of the additional document dated Jan 29, 2024.
In his application, Najib named the Home Minister, the Commissioner General of Prisons, the Attorney General, the Pardons Board for the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya, the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of law and institutional reform, the director-general of the Legal Affairs Division in the Prime Minister’s Department, and the Malaysian government as respondents.
The former finance minister also sought an order that, if the additional document is found to exist, all or any of the respondents be directed to implement it immediately, including transferring him from Kajang Prison to his residence to serve the balance of his jail term.
On July 3, 2024, High Court judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh dismissed Najib’s application for leave to commence judicial review, ruling on four affidavits submitted in support of Najib’s claims.
Najib was originally sentenced by the High Court to 12 years’ imprisonment and fined RM210 million, a decision that was upheld by both the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court after his appeals were dismissed.
He subsequently filed a petition for a royal pardon on Sept 2, 2022, which led the Pardons Board to halve his prison term from 12 years to six years and reduce the fine from RM210 million to RM50 million. - December 21, 2025
