KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -Malaysia’s Attorney-General’s Chambers on Wednesday confirmed for the first time the existence of a royal order that jailed ex-premier Najib Razak says would allow him to serve his prison sentence for corruption at home, local media reported.
Najib, who was prime minister between 2009 and 2018, was found guilty in 2020 of graft and money laundering linked to a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
In 2022, he was ordered to spend 12 years in prison for the crime, a sentence halved last year by a pardons board chaired by then-King Al-Sultan Abdullah.
Najib, who has consistently denied wrongdoing, contends that the pardons board decision was accompanied by an “addendum order” from the former monarch granting him house arrest, a document that he says authorities ignored.
Malaysia’s Court of Appeal in January allowed Najib’s bid to apply for a judicial review that would compel the government to confirm the existence of the addendum order, and to execute it if it exists.
The former king’s palace has said the document does exist, but Malaysian authorities including its law and home ministries have previously said they had no record or any knowledge of it.
However, a lawyer acting on behalf of the attorney-general said he did not dispute the existence of the addendum document, when questioned on the matter by a federal court judge on Wednesday, the New Straits Times daily reported.
Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan was reported as saying that the AGC was instead challenging the procedure through which the order was being submitted as evidence in Najib’s judicial review bid.
A spokesperson for Najib confirmed the lawyer’s remarks, which were made during a hearing on the government’s appeal against the ex-premier’s application.
The AGC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Malaysian and U.S. investigators estimate $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB in a complex, globe-spanning scheme.
More than $1 billion was allegedly channelled to accounts linked to Najib, who helped start the fund.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff and Danial Azhar; Editing by Martin Petty)
