Malaysia court dismisses ex-PM's bid to serve sentence under house arrest

A Malaysian court on Monday denied a bid by jailed former prime minister Najib Razak to serve the remainder of his sentence at home, saying a royal order allowing the move was not made according to the correct procedures.



Najib, who has been in prison since 2022 for corruption related to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, had his 12-year jail sentence halved last year by a pardons board chaired by the country's former king.



But he insists the monarch also issued an "addendum order" that converts his sentence to house arrest, and he has been seeking to compel the government to confirm the document's existence and enforce its contents.



Government officials, including members of the pardons board, for months denied knowledge of its existence, though the former king's office and a federal lawyer this year confirmed the royal document had been issued.



The king plays a largely ceremonial role in Malaysia but can pardon convicted people as one of the discretionary powers granted to him by the federal constitution.



The Kuala Lumpur High Court on Monday said the existence of the document was not in dispute, but the order was not legally enforceable as it was not made with the consultation of the country's pardons board, as required under the constitution.