The Malaysian pardons board on Friday said that it had halved the jail term for former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, currently in prison for corruption, to six years.
Najib was sentenced in 2022 to 12 years in jail for offenses linked to the misuse of public money in the multibillion-dollar 1MDB financial scandal.
“After considering opinions and advice ... the pardon board has decided to grant a 50 percent reduction for the sentence and fine imposed on Najib Razak,” it said in a statement.
Photo: AFP
The board, which was chaired by Malaysian former king Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and also included Malaysian attorney general, met on Monday — two days before the king handed the rotational throne to a successor.
The board did not give any other reasons for its decision.
It also said Najib would be released in 2028 and his fine reduced to 50 million ringgit (US$10.6 million).
An additional year would be added to his jail term if he failed to pay the fine, the board said.
Najib’s lawyers and government officials could not be reached for comment.
James Chin, professor of Asian Studies at the University of Tasmania in Australia, said the sentence reduction could damage Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s reform credentials after he campaigned on eradicating corruption during the 2022 election.
“The cut in Najib’s jail sentence reminds us that there are two rules in Malaysia — one for the powerful elite and one for the normal people,” Chin said.
Najib was found guilty in 2020 of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust over the transfer of 42 million ringgit from former 1MDB unit SRC International to his personal bank account.
His bid to overturn the prison sentence was rejected by Malaysia’s top court.
The 70-year-old, who was prime minister from 2009 to 2018, claimed he did not receive a fair hearing, saying that a judge had a conflict of interest and that his new legal team was not allowed enough time to study the case documents.
He was ousted in 2018 polls by an opposition alliance of Malaysia’s political patriarch, former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, amid anger over the scandal.
The king wields the power to pardon convicted figures in Malaysia and his role is accorded considerable prestige, particularly among the country’s Malay Muslim majority.
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