Sawt Falasteen - Jailed Malaysian ex-PM Najib loses bid for house arrest

Najib, 72, serving a six-year jail term for corruption linked to the plunder of Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, which sparked probes in several countries.

His lawyers had argued that the purported existence of an order by Malaysia's former king, called a "royal addendum", granted him permission to serve the rest of his current sentence at home.

But on Monday, Judge Alice Loke Yee Ching Loke disagreed, saying the royal addendum was not a valid order.

Therefore "the court cannot issue an ...order to direct a house arrest", Loke told the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

"There is no legal provision for house arrest in Malaysia," the judge added. "The judicial review is dismissed."

Najib was tried and originally sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment in July 2020, but the term was later halved by a pardons board.

The 1MDB scandal led to investigations in more than eight countries, including the United States, Switzerland, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, resulting in billions paid back in settlements.

On Friday, Najib faces yet another verdict in a separate trial linked to the financial scandal that led to his defeat in the 2018 elections.

U.Shaheen--SF-PST