Najib wins court battle over house arrest

Jailed former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak won a major court battle on Wednesday that took him a step closer to being able to serve out a years-long jail term over the multi-billion dollar IMDB scandal at home.

- 

Najib, imprisoned since August 2022 in one of several cases related to IMDB, has been seeking a judicial review to compel authorities to confirm the existence of and execute a royal order issued by former King Al-Sultan Abdullah entitling him to serve the remainder of his jail sentence under house arrest.

In a unanimous decision, the Federal Court, Malaysia's top tribunal, said on Wednesday it accepted that there was a royal document related to granting house arrest for Najib but it was not in a position to determine its authenticity.

Najib has said an addendum order accompanied a pardon by Al-Sultan Abdullah in January last year that halved his sentence from 12 years to six.