Najib Razak seeks stay of 15-year sentence in 1MDB-linked case

Jailed former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has asked the Kuala Lumpur High Court to suspend a 15-year prison sentence handed down in a case linked to the 1MDB corruption scandal, his lawyer said.

The court will decide on October 14 whether to grant the stay pending an appeal against the conviction, lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told reporters.

Najib, 73, has been in prison since 2022 after being convicted of graft and money laundering over the theft of billions of dollars from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a state fund he co-founded while in office. He has consistently denied wrongdoing.

The request follows a conditional pardon granted last week by Malaysia's King Sultan Ibrahim, which allows Najib to serve the remainder of his original sentence under house arrest until his expected release in August 2028, provided he pays a 50 million ringgit (about $12.27 million) fine.

The 15-year sentence at issue in the stay request stems from a separate case in which Najib was found guilty in December last year. That term would begin after his house arrest ends.

Muhammad Shafee said that if Najib pays the fine and is granted the stay, "there is a good chance he is released on the same day." However, he added that the terms of the house arrest order remain unclear because the legal team has yet to receive official documents confirming the royal pardon.

The lawyer reiterated that Najib has so far been unable to pay the fine, with many of his assets still frozen by the government. His party, the United Malays National Organisation, has launched a fundraising drive to help secure his release.

US and Malaysian investigators have said at least $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB, with about $1 billion flowing into accounts linked to Najib. He has apologised for mishandling the scandal but maintains his innocence, saying he was misled about the source of the funds.