Malaysia's Najib house arrest decision fuels legal and political debate
In Kuala Lumpur, the Attorney-General's Chambers said there are two possible interpretations of the King’s conditional pardon for former prime minister Najib Razak, and opposition leaders criticised the ruling coalition’s handling of the case. The royal palace stated that Sultan Ibrahim’s conditional pardon was explicit and not open to alternative readings, while the attorney-general’s office postponed Najib’s transfer to house arrest pending a legal review and asked for a temporary halt to the move.
Earlier, UMNO announced it had paid the RM50 million fine that would allow Najib to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest after a court order required the payment. Najib’s lawyer had previously said he had not received instructions to pay, and Najib was initially scheduled to pay the fine to activate the conditional pardon.
