Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s latest application for a royal pardon has been deferred.
KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s latest application for a royal pardon has been deferred, leaving his bid for further clemency unresolved.
The decision was made on Friday during the 63rd meeting of the Federal Territories Pardons Board, chaired by His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia.
In a statement, the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department said the King had consented for Najib’s application to be considered at a future meeting.
However, it did not specify when the matter would be reconsidered or provide a reason for the deferment.
The board also agreed to release 65 prisoners on Friday. Foreign nationals among those released will be deported to their respective countries within six months, the division said.
Najib, 73, has been serving a prison sentence since August 2022 after the Federal Court upheld his conviction for abusing his position to obtain RM42 million from SRC International, a former unit of state investment fund 1MDB.
He was initially sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined RM210 million.
In January 2024, the Pardons Board reduced his prison sentence by half to six years and cut his fine to RM50 million. The decision brought forward his expected release date to August 2028, subject to the payment of the fine.
Najib has since continued to seek a further reduction in his sentence, while his legal team has separately pursued a legal challenge involving an alleged royal addendum that they say would allow him to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.
The High Court rejected his bid to compel the government to recognise the alleged addendum. Najib subsequently withdrew his appeal against the decision in April.
He is also serving a separate sentence related to the 1MDB case.
In July 2025, the High Court sentenced him to 15 years in prison after convicting him of abusing his position and money laundering in connection with billions of ringgit allegedly misappropriated from the state fund.
That sentence is to begin after he completes his SRC International sentence.
Najib, who served as prime minister from 2009 to 2018, has consistently maintained that he was unaware that money deposited into his accounts originated from 1MDB and has denied wrongdoing.
