Malaysia Halves Ex-PM Najib Razak’s Jail Term

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak’s 12-year jail sentence for corruption has been halved by the country’s pardons board.

Jailed in 2022 for stealing national funds, he will be released in August 2028, the board said.

Najib, who served from 2009 to 2018, was convicted in 2020 as part of the 1MDB scandal.

That is related to the embezzlement of Malaysia’s state-owned wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

The fine imposed on him was also reduced from 210m ringgit ($44.3m;£35.1m) to 50m ringgit. He had only been serving his sentence since August 2022, after spending two years appealing his conviction before the courts.

The jailing of such a senior figure in Asian politics at that time caused major ripples across South East Asia.

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It was held up as a rare example of accountability in a region where power is so often unaccountable.

However, on Tuesday, reports emerged that Malaysia’s pardons board had met on the last day of the King’s tenure to consider Najib’s application for release.

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Malaysia has a rotating monarchy – King Abdullah Ahmad Shah passed the reins to Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar on Wednesday.

Najib’s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which previously led the ruling coalition that governed Malaysia, has been pushing for a royal pardon after testing and exhausting other legal avenues of appeal.

Two weeks ago, Najib was escorted from prison by guards to appear in a Kuala Lumpur court to hear his latest legal challenge. Along with his wife Rosmah Mansor, he still faces a raft of other charges.

Despite the scandal, the former prime minister has maintained some popularity among ethnic Malays and he is still influential in UMNO.

The 1MDB scheme was a global web of fraud and corruption, in which billions of dollars ostensibly raised for public development projects in Malaysia instead landed in private pockets, including Najib’s.

BBC