Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should be transferred from Kajang Prison to house arrest without delay if the High Court rules next week that such an order is valid, according to his lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah. The lawyer stressed that any favourable ruling on the matter must take immediate effect, regardless of whether the government chooses to challenge the decision on appeal.
Shafee explained that a court ruling involving personal liberty carries a different legal weight from other administrative orders. In his view, enforcement cannot be suspended once a decision grants an individual greater freedom. He maintained that while the authorities would retain the right to appeal, they would not be justified in seeking to halt the implementation of a house arrest order, as doing so would contradict the principle of liberty.
At the same time, Shafee acknowledged that practical arrangements would need to be made before Najib could be placed under house arrest. These include determining a suitable residence, setting up security measures, and assigning supervising officers. He suggested that such preparations could reasonably take a few days, but insisted that the transition should proceed as swiftly as possible once the court delivers its decision.
Najib has been incarcerated since August 2022 following his conviction in the SRC International case involving RM42 million. His sentence was later reduced to six years after receiving a royal pardon. Depending on whether he settles a RM50 million fine, his expected release date falls between 2028 and 2029. Shafee argued that existing prison regulations already provide a framework for house arrest and noted that Malaysian courts have previously recognised such arrangements.
The High Court is scheduled to decide on December 22 whether an additional order issued by the former Yang di-Pertuan Agong allowing Najib to serve his sentence under house arrest is legally valid and enforceable. Shafee emphasised that this ruling concerns only the SRC case and would not affect proceedings in Najib’s separate 1MDB trial.
On that front, Shafee reiterated his position that Najib remains innocent in both the SRC and 1MDB cases. He raised concerns over what he described as an unfair trial process in the 1MDB proceedings, pointing to difficulties in obtaining evidence linked to a former Goldman Sachs banker. However, he dismissed suggestions that these arguments were intended to delay the upcoming verdict in the 1MDB case, confirming that Najib had not instructed his legal team to seek any postponement.
Looking ahead to the closely watched court decisions scheduled for the coming week, Shafee said the outcomes would determine the next steps but expressed hope that the rulings would be favourable to his client.
Kamran (kfiverr21@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.