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FORMER prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s legal fate is set to hinge on the courts this week, as the former prime minister remains behind bars following the dismissal of his bid for house arrest and awaits a critical ruling in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) case on Friday.
On Tuesday, the Kuala Lumpur High Court rejected Najib’s judicial review application to serve the remainder of his prison term for the RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd case under house detention.
The ruling means Najib will continue serving his sentence in prison, at least for the time being.
The setback comes just days before the delivery of the 1MDB verdict, concluding a trial that stretched over six years.
The decision will be handed down at the Palace of Justice by Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah, who has since been appointed a Federal Court judge.
Legal observers say Najib’s immediate and long-term prospects now depend on a complex interplay between the outcome of the 1MDB case, the legal scope of his partial royal pardon in the SRC matter, and whether further clemency remains available.
Datuk Geethan Ram Vincent said Najib’s future must be assessed by looking at how these elements intersect.
“Najib’s future will be shaped by the interaction of three parts – which is the conclusion of the 1MDB trial, the scope and limits of the existing SRC pardon, and the continued availability of royal pardon,” The Star reported him saying.
He said the legal position surrounding the SRC conviction had largely stabilised following the partial pardon.
“On the SRC matter, the legal position is now relatively settled. Following the partial pardon, Najib is serving a reduced sentence, and today’s ruling makes clear that there is presently no legal pathway for the sentence to be served under house arrest.
“Of course this is subject to appeal. In the absence of further clemency, he remains subject to the ordinary remission rules,” he added.
Geethan said the implications of Friday’s judgment could be profound.
“He said an acquittal in the 1MDB case would confine Najib’s conviction to SRC alone and factors such as sentence completion, remission, or further pardon would be at play,” he said.
“Conversely, a conviction would almost certainly result in a substantial custodial sentence, effectively resetting the clock and diminishing the practical impact of any relief granted in the SRC matter,” he added.
Lawyer Kitson Foong said Najib’s legal avenues were far from exhausted, noting that an appeal against the High Court’s refusal of house arrest was likely.
“The dismissal of the judicial review by the High Court will not be the end of the road as Najib’s team will likely file an appeal at the Court of Appeal,” he said.
“They could argue that the High Court erred in not recognising the addendum order.
“If the Court of Appeal reverses today’s decision which could take months, he could be transferred to house detention immediately, regardless of the 1MDB outcome unless the 1MDB judge explicitly denies bail or house arrest for that specific case,” he added.
Kitson said Najib’s current release date for the SRC case stands at August 2028 following the reduced sentence granted through a royal pardon, although remission could allow for earlier release.
He added that if Najib is convicted in the 1MDB case, a key consideration would be how any new sentence is imposed.
“If the High Court Judge orders the new sentence to start after the SRC sentence ends, he said that would be the ‘worst-case’ scenario, potentially adding years to Najib’s jail term,” he said.
Former Malaysian Bar president Salim Bashir said the High Court’s decision on house arrest raised important constitutional issues that should be tested at the highest level.
“The High Court’s decision yesterday has enumerated a number of obscure and novel Constitutional points which should be resolved by the Apex court on appeal,” he said.
He said the court had found the purported order allowing home detention to be unenforceable.
“The High Court denied an application by Najib to serve the remainder of his jail sentence at home, saying that the order was not enforceable as it was not deliberated during the pardon board meeting in January 2024, and in which it has ordinarily defied the Constitutional requirement of Article 42 under the Federal Constitution,” he said.
Salim said Najib’s application differed materially from previous cases involving royal clemency.
“In all fairness, the backdrop of Najib’s case is distinct from a plethora of previous cases where the Apex courts have ruled that the power of pardon is purely a discretion exercise of prerogative of mercy by His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or State Rulers, and the latest approach in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim vs Mohd Khairul Azam too maintained that the King is not bound by advice and his discretion is not susceptible to judicial review,” he said.
“The striking difference of the earlier cases and Najib’s application hinged on the issue of a supplementary order issued by the King extraneous to deliberations made in the Board meeting,” he added.
Senior lawyer Datuk Baljit Singh Sidhu said the appeal process surrounding the house arrest issue could take considerable time.
“The process of appeal on the house arrest could be decided at the Federal Court by the end of next year,” he said.
As Najib awaits the 1MDB ruling on Friday, lawyers say the judgment will be a turning point that could either limit his remaining imprisonment to the SRC conviction or dramatically extend his time in custody, reshaping the trajectory of one of Malaysia’s most closely watched legal sagas.- December 23, 2025