Malaysia PM Anwar deflects questions on house arrest for Najib

10/12/2024 14:36

Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim refused to answer questions on Tuesday on the existence of a royal decree that would allegedly allow jailed former premier Najib Razak to serve his prison sentence at home.



Najib, who was prime minister between 2009 and 2018, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in August 2022, when Malaysia's top court upheld his conviction in a corruption case linked to the multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB.



The sentence however was halved this year by a pardons' board chaired by former King Al-Sultan Abdullah, shortly before his reign ended in January. Malaysia has a unique system of monarchy where the country's nine sultans take turns to become king every five years.



Since April, Najib has been pursuing a legal bid to compel the government to confirm the existence of and execute an "addendum order" that he said was issued by the former king alongside the pardons' board decision, entitling him to serve the remainder of his jail term at home. The former monarch has not commented on the case.



Anwar said in parliament on Tuesday he was unable to answer questions from lawmakers on the document, citing parliamentary rules on matters being decided by courts.