KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia's attorney general has asked the High Court to review the order that would let former prime minister Najib Razak serve the rest of his prison sentence under house arrest, four days after the order was issued and the fine was paid.
Illustration: The Kuala Lumpur High Court complex, where the attorney general has asked judges to review the order on Najib Razak's house arrest — an artist's impression, not a photograph of the proceedings.
What Happened
Attorney-General Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar confirmed on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, that his chambers had applied to the High Court to review the discharge order issued on 6 November and seek a fresh order in line with the conditional pardon granted by the King on 18 September, Bernama reported, via Reuters.
The filing came four days after a dramatic Friday in which UMNO paid the RM50 million fine at the High Court. A discharge order followed, and Najib left Kajang Prison at about 2.37pm — but instead of going home, he was taken for a medical examination at Kuala Lumpur Hospital and returned to prison at about 7.15pm.
Later that Friday, the Attorney-General's Chambers announced that the house arrest would be deferred pending further examination of the pardon order and the discharge order. Najib, who had been expected to begin serving the rest of his sentence at home that night, remained behind bars.
At the heart of the dispute is the wording of the discharge order. The chambers stressed on Saturday that the validity of the conditional pardon was never in question. The uncertainty is whether the discharge order merely recorded payment of the fine, with the SRC sentence continuing under house arrest, or meant the sentence had been legally completed. That matters because his separate 15-year 1MDB sentence begins only after his SRC sentence has been completed.
Home Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said on Tuesday that the Prisons Department needed to be certain of its authority. "The Order of Discharge states that he is to be released, whereas the Pardons Board refers to house arrest. House arrest is different from release," he said, according to Malay Mail.
Najib's lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, was expected to appear before the High Court at 2.30pm on Tuesday over the disputed discharge order, according to local media. Reuters checks found that the matter is being raised before Judge Aslam Zainuddin at Criminal High Court 5.
King Sultan Ibrahim has also weighed in. In a statement issued by Istana Negara on 7 November, the palace said the conditional pardon was clear and unambiguous, and that disputing it tended towards defying the order of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. The King had ordered house arrest, subject to payment of the RM50 million fine, the statement said.
Illustration: Kuala Lumpur's skyline and a quiet suburban house at dusk, evoking the house arrest at the centre of the dispute — an artist's impression, not a photograph of Najib Razak's home.
Background
Najib Razak, 73, prime minister from 2009 to 2018, is the central figure in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, one of the largest financial frauds in history. He set up the 1MDB state investment fund in 2009. Between 2009 and 2014, investigators in Malaysia and the United States have said, at least $4.5 billion was siphoned off from the fund by officials and their associates and laundered through the United States, Singapore and Switzerland, according to the US Department of Justice. The scandal led to the downfall of Najib's government in May 2018.
The first case to reach a verdict concerned SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB. On 28 July 2020, the Kuala Lumpur High Court found Najib guilty on all seven charges — abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering — over RM42 million (about $10.3 million) channelled into his personal accounts. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined RM210 million. The Federal Court upheld the conviction in August 2022, and Najib began serving his sentence that month — the first former Malaysian leader to be jailed.
In January 2024, the Pardons Board offered partial relief. At its 61st meeting on 29 January 2024, chaired by the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Abdullah, the board halved Najib's term to six years and cut his fine to RM50 million. He was due for release on 23 August 2028 — or a year later if the fine was not paid.
But the 2024 pardon soon became entangled in a second controversy: the so-called royal addendum. Najib claimed that the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Abdullah, had also issued a supplementary order on 29 January 2024 allowing him to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest. After years of litigation, the High Court dismissed his judicial-review application on 22 December 2025, ruling that the addendum had not been made in line with the procedure under Article 42 and was therefore not legally enforceable.
The deadlock was broken on 18 September 2026, when a newly constituted Pardons Board granted Najib a conditional pardon under the current King, Sultan Ibrahim, allowing him to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest until 23 August 2028, subject to payment of the RM50 million fine, according to Bernama. UMNO launched a Najib Razak Solidarity Fund the same day, and party lawyers settled the fine at the High Court on Friday, 6 November. The fund-raising has divided opinion inside the unity government, with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim reported to have disagreed with it.
Meanwhile, the legal picture had darkened further for Najib in the main 1MDB trial. On 26 December 2025, Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah convicted him on four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering, involving about RM2.3 billion (around $570 million) that prosecutors said was misappropriated from 1MDB, according to the Associated Press. The judge sentenced him to 15 years concurrently, plus RM13.5 billion (about $3.3 billion) in fines and asset forfeiture. The new sentence runs only after his SRC term ends. Najib has consistently denied wrongdoing, maintaining that the funds were a political donation from Saudi Arabia and that he was misled by rogue financiers led by fugitive businessman Jho Low.
Illustration: A judge's gavel and official documents bearing a royal seal, symbolising the legal questions around the conditional pardon — an artist's impression, not a photograph of the actual documents.
Why It Matters
The dispute matters first because it pits two pillars of Malaysia's constitutional order against each other: the King's prerogative of mercy and the courts' role in interpreting the orders that give effect to it. The palace has said the pardon is clear and disputing it tends towards defiance of a royal decree. The Attorney-General's Chambers insists it is challenging only the wording of a court order issued to implement it, not the pardon.
It matters, second, because the interpretation the court adopts will decide when Najib's 15-year sentence in the main 1MDB case begins. If the discharge order is read as completing the SRC sentence, the clock on the far longer 1MDB term could start sooner; if it is read as merely recording payment of the fine, the timetable stretches out.
Third, the episode is a test of public confidence in equal justice. Supporters see a former leader treated harshly by political enemies, while critics see a man convicted of stealing from a state fund being eased out of prison by royal favour and party fund-raising. Friday's brief release and same-evening return has fed both narratives at once.
Finally, the affair is straining the politics of the unity government. UMNO, the party Najib once led, raised the RM50 million through public donations and celebrated the payment as a vindication; its partners in government, including Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's coalition, have been markedly cooler.
What Happens Next
The immediate focus is Tuesday afternoon's hearing before Judge Aslam Zainuddin, where Najib's lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah is expected to argue. The court could issue a fresh discharge order, clarify the wording of the existing order, or adjourn the matter. Any of those outcomes would determine, within days, whether Najib moves to house arrest or stays in Kajang Prison.
If a fresh order confirms the house arrest, Najib would serve the remainder of his reduced sentence at his Langgak Duta home until 23 August 2028, subject to the conditions attached to the pardon — the terms of which have not been publicly disclosed in full. The Prisons Department would then have to set out how the arrangement is monitored.
If the court instead finds that the discharge order did complete the SRC sentence, the consequences would be wider still, potentially accelerating the start of the 15-year 1MDB sentence and inviting further challenges from both sides. Either way, the Attorney General's application is unlikely to be the last word: the losing side would be expected to appeal, and the palace's direct statement suggests the King is watching closely.
Beyond the courtroom, the political fallout will continue to build. UMNO's fund-raising success has energised Najib's supporters, while the government's handling of the affair is under scrutiny from the opposition and anti-corruption campaigners. For now, though, the question is a narrow legal one: what, exactly, did the discharge order of 6 November discharge? The High Court's answer will decide where he spends the next two years.
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FAQ
What did Malaysia's attorney general file on 10 November 2026?
The Attorney-General's Chambers applied to the High Court to review the discharge order issued on 6 November and seek a fresh order in line with the conditional pardon granted by the King on 18 September, according to Bernama, as reported by Reuters. Attorney-General Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar confirmed the filing.
Why was Najib Razak's move to house arrest postponed?
Although UMNO paid the RM50 million fine on Friday, 6 November, and a discharge order was issued, the Attorney-General's Chambers deferred the transfer the same day, citing questions over the legal interpretation of the conditional pardon and the court order. Najib left Kajang Prison that afternoon for a medical examination but was returned the same evening. The chambers later said the pardon itself was not in question — the uncertainty was whether his SRC sentence had been completed or was continuing under house arrest.
What is the RM50 million fine and who paid it?
The RM50 million fine was imposed in the SRC International case, where Najib was convicted in 2020 of misappropriating RM42 million. The Pardons Board cut the original RM210 million fine to RM50 million in January 2024, and payment was a condition of the conditional pardon granted on 18 September 2026. UMNO paid it at the High Court on 6 November after raising the money through a solidarity fund.
What is the "addendum order" and why does it matter?
The addendum order is a supplementary order that Najib claimed the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Abdullah, issued on 29 January 2024 alongside the pardon that halved his sentence, purportedly allowing him to serve the remainder under house arrest. After years of litigation, the High Court dismissed his judicial-review application on 22 December 2025, ruling the addendum had not been made in line with the procedure under Article 42. The new conditional pardon of 18 September 2026 is a separate order by the current King, Sultan Ibrahim.
What happens to Najib's separate 1MDB sentence?
On 26 December 2025, Najib was convicted in the main 1MDB trial on four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering, and sentenced to 15 years concurrently, plus a fine and asset forfeiture totalling RM13.5 billion. That sentence begins only after his SRC sentence has been completed — which is why the 6 November discharge order matters. His application to defer the 1MDB sentence was rejected by the High Court on 14 October 2026.
Sources
- Reuters — "Malaysian attorney general seeks High Court review of Najib house arrest order, Bernama reports," 10 November 2026 — reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/malaysian-attorney-general-seeks-high-court-review-najib-house-arrest-order-2026-11-10/
- Scoop — "AGC seeks fresh court order to clarify Najib's house arrest," 10 November 2026 — scoop.my/news/302651/agc-seeks-fresh-court-order-to-clarify-najibs-house-arrest/
- Business Today — "AGC Denies Brushing Aside Royal Pardon for Najib's House Arrest," 7 November 2026 — businesstoday.com.my/2026/11/07/agc-denies-brushing-aside-royal-pardon-for-najibs-house-arrest/
- Associated Press — "Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak convicted in trial over 1MDB corruption scandal," 26 December 2025 — gmg-kprc-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/world/2025/12/26/former-malaysian-prime-minister-najib-razak-convicted-in-trial-over-1mdb-corruption-scandal/
- The Edge — "Najib's House Arrest Bid: An Explainer on the Eve of the Apex Court's Decision," 13 August 2025 — klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/ceomorningbrief/2025-08-13-story-h499690740-Najib_39_s_House_Arrest_Bid_An_Explainer_on_the_Eve_of_the_Apex_Court_39
- Life News Agency — "Istana Negara: Najib's Conditional Pardon Order Is Clear, Disputing It Tends Towards Defying the King," 7 November 2026 — lifenewsagency.com/istana-negara-najibs-conditional-pardon-order-is-clear-disputing-it-tends-towards-defying-the-king/
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