Umno pays Najib's RM50 million fine, clearing way for house arrest
Malaysia's former prime minister met a condition of his royal pardon after a party-run public fund raised the money, but his release date is unclear.
Malaysia's United Malays National Organisation (Umno) says it has paid the RM50 million fine owed by jailed former prime minister Najib Razak. The payment meets a condition of the royal pardon that allows him to serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest.
"UMNO completed all payment procedures with the Kuala Lumpur High Court this morning," party secretary-general Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said in a statement on Friday, CNA reported. He said the Najib Razak Solidarity Fund, set up on September 18 to collect public donations, had reached its target and its account was closed. The South China Morning Post and CNA put the fine at US$12.3 million. The Straits Times gave it as S$15.7 million.
Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar granted the conditional pardon on September 18 after a meeting of the Federal Territories Pardons Board. It lets Najib serve the remainder of his six-year term at home until August 23, 2028. CNA said earlier reports had him living alone at his Langgak Duta residence in Kuala Lumpur under prison department supervision, with family visits restricted. His lawyer Hasnal Rezue Merican told the New Straits Times the house was chosen because no family members lived there.
The fund collected more than RM1 million within a day of its launch. On Tuesday, Asyraf said it was still short of the target, with RM5,000 to RM10,000 arriving daily and some donations as small as RM1. Najib's lawyers had said paying the fine "does not lie in his own hands" because much of his assets are under freezing orders and enforcement proceedings.
Najib, 73, was prime minister from 2009 to 2018. In July 2020 he was sentenced to 12 years' jail and fined RM210 million on seven charges over the transfer of RM42 million from SRC International, a former subsidiary of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), into his personal accounts. He entered Kajang prison in August 2022. A partial pardon in January 2024 halved his term and cut the fine to RM50 million.
The Straits Times, citing Reuters, reported that more than US$1 billion allegedly went into accounts linked to Najib in the wider 1MDB scandal, in which US investigators say up to US$4.5 billion was siphoned away. Najib says he has been made a scapegoat.
His wife, Rosmah Mansor, told reporters on Friday that the family had not been informed of any developments, including the payment, Free Malaysia Today reported. On Wednesday his lawyer Shafee Abdullah said he had no instructions on whether the fine would be paid.
The Straits Times said it was not immediately clear when Najib would be moved home. CNA cited Malaysian media reports that he could leave Kajang prison on Friday, after police were seen around the Langgak Duta house.
Sources: South China Morning Post, Malaysia’s Najib closer to house arrest as Umno pays US$12.3 million fine; CNA, Former Malaysia PM Najib Razak's US$12.3 million fine paid by UMNO, paving way for house arrest; The Straits Times, Malaysia ex-PM Najib Razak set for house arrest after UMNO pays S$15.7 million fine to leave jail.
