Malaysia’s attorney general temporarily halted former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s transfer from prison to house arrest on Friday, hours after his political party paid a 50 million ringgit ($12.3 million) fine and his lawyers said a court had issued an order enabling the move.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers said Najib would remain in prison while legal questions concerning the interpretation of his conditional royal pardon and the subsequent court order were clarified.
The United Malays National Organisation said it completed payment of the fine at the Kuala Lumpur High Court after a crowdfunding campaign reached its target.
Bernama reported that the payment fulfilled a condition of a pardon granted by King Sultan Ibrahim on September 18, allowing Najib to serve the remainder of his SRC International sentence under house arrest until August 23, 2028.
Najib has been imprisoned since August 2022, when the Federal Court upheld his conviction on seven charges involving 42 million ringgit transferred from SRC International, a former unit of 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
His original 12-year prison term and 210 million ringgit fine were reduced by the Pardons Board in January 2024 to six years and 50 million ringgit.
The September 2026 pardon then added the possibility of home detention, subject to payment of the reduced fine and other conditions.
The suspension underscores unresolved questions over how Malaysia will implement home detention.
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said on October 18 that the Prisons Department was still finalising regulations and conditions for house arrest following the pardon, according to Bernama.
That administrative work provides additional context for the attorney general’s decision to pause Najib’s transfer even after the fine was paid and the court order obtained.
The house-arrest arrangement applies only to the SRC case.
In December 2025, Najib received a separate 15-year prison sentence and an 11.4 billion ringgit fine after being convicted of abuse of power and money laundering involving 1MDB funds.
He appealed that ruling on December 29, 2025, and the appeal remains pending.
Najib has denied wrongdoing in connection with the wider 1MDB scandal.