Malaysia court grants Najib access to key document

Malaysia's appeals court granted a bid by jailed ex-premier Najib Razak to see a document he said should allow him to serve his sentence at home, in a rare win for a disgraced former leader at the heart of the country's biggest scandal.

Najib, who was jailed over the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, had appealed a lower court decision last July that dismissed his bid to confirm the existence of and execute a royal order that he said entitled him to house arrest.

Malaysia's pardons board, at the time chaired by then King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah, agreed in February last year to halve Najib's jail sentence to six years from 12 and reduced fines imposed on him, sparking public uproar.

But Najib maintained that an "addendum order" on house arrest was issued by the former king alongside the decision, but was never executed by authorities.

In a two to one decision, the Court of Appeal granted Najib's appeal to overturn the lower court's dismissal of his previous request. The case will return to the High Court for hearing by a different judge.

In a surprise twist while the court was in session, an aide to Najib shared with the media a letter dated Jan. 4 from the office of Al-Sultan Abdullah's palace, which stated a royal order granting Najib home detention was "valid and authentic".

The office of the palace confirmed the authenticity of the Jan. 4 letter, which marked the first public acknowledgement by the palace of the existence of the royal order, which was issued just before the end of the king's five-year reign.

According to the constitution, the monarch, which changes every five years under Malaysia's unique system of monarchy, has authority to take decisions on granting pardons, upon the advice of a pardons board.

Najib was found guilty in 2020 of criminal breach of trust and abuse of power for illegally receiving funds misappropriated from a unit of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

Najib remains on trial for corruption in several other 1MDB-linked cases. He has consistently denied wrongdoing.