Malaysia's King Defers Decision on Najib Razak's Second Pardon Bid

Malaysia's king has put off a decision on a fresh clemency request from former prime minister Najib Razak, who is serving time over a corruption case tied to the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB financial scandal.

King Sultan Ibrahim chaired a pardons board meeting on Friday at which 65 prisoners were granted pardons, but consideration of Najib's application was pushed to the board's next session, according to a statement from the legal affairs division of the prime minister's department.

Although the monarch's role in Malaysia is largely ceremonial, the constitution gives the king discretionary power to grant pardons.

This is the second clemency bid by Najib, who has been behind bars since 2022, after the country's top court upheld his conviction for corruption linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a state fund he co-founded during his nine years in power. Investigators allege that more than $1 billion flowed into accounts connected to Najib, who has denied wrongdoing and said he was made a scapegoat for the embezzlement of what U.S. authorities say was $4.5 billion in a complex international scheme.

In 2024, a pardons board chaired by the previous king halved Najib's original 12-year jail term and reduced his fines. Najib has maintained that the same decision also provided for house arrest, but a legal attempt to secure that has failed.

Late last year, he was handed an additional 15-year prison sentence and a fine of $2.8 billion for abuse of power and money laundering in connection with the 1MDB affair. He has appealed that ruling.

The announcement confirms media reports earlier this week that Najib, 73, who served as premier from 2009 to 2018, was seeking clemency — an issue that could deepen divisions within Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's multi-party government.

Even from prison, Najib remains a polarising figure in Malaysian politics and retains influence in the once-dominant United Malays National Organisation, which leads the Barisan Nasional coalition within Anwar's administration. This week, UMNO criticised Anwar's Pakatan Harapan alliance after it issued a statement saying those convicted of graft or abuse of power should serve their full sentences, without naming Najib directly.