Najib drops appeal over High Court’s dismissal of house arrest bid

 Former prime minister filed a notice of discontinuation earlier this month, closing off any future attempt to serve the remainder of his SRC International prison sentence at home.

On Dec 22, Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Justice Alice Loke dismissed Najib Razak’s application for a judicial review to serve the balance of his six-year jail term in the SRC International case under house arrest.

PETALING JAYA:

 Former prime minister Najib Razak has dropped his appeal against a High Court ruling dismissing his application to complete the remainder of his SRC International jail term under house arrest.

According to Malay Mail, a notice of discontinuance was filed by Najib’s legal team, Messrs Shafee & Co, on April 3.

No reasons were provided for the withdrawal, but the filing stated that it was discontinued “without liberty to file afresh and with no order as to costs”

This means Najib will not be able to refile the same appeal seeking house arrest in the SRC International case.

It is understood that Najib has also withdrawn his appeal for leave to initiate contempt proceedings against former attorney-general Ahmad Terrirudin Salleh.

The decision to discontinue the appeal was conveyed to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

FMT has reached out to Attorney-General Dusuki Mokthar for comment.

On Dec 22, Justice Alice Loke dismissed Najib’s application to serve his reduced six-year jail term in his SRC International case under house arrest.

Loke held that, among others, the Federal Territories Pardons Board had provided its advice on the proposed full pardon as well as the 50% reduction of prison term, but that there was no mention of house arrest during the meeting presided over by the king.

She said the king only made one decision on the reduction of the prison term and fine.

On Dec 26, Putrajaya High Court judge Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah sentenced Najib to 15 years in prison and fined him RM11.387 billion following his conviction on all 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering in his 1MDB case.

He ordered for Najib’s jail term to begin in 2028, after he completes his six-year prison sentence in the SRC International case.

The court found Najib guilty on all four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.

He was sentenced to 15 years’ jail on each of his abuse of power charges, with the sentences to run concurrently.

For the 21 money laundering charges, Sequerah sentenced Najib to five years’ imprisonment on each charge, also to run concurrently, and ordered him to pay a recoverable sum of RM2.08 billion. - FMT