Shafee sets out Najib's house arrest conditions as the RM50 million fine stays unpaid

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak's lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, has set out conditions that would govern the former prime minister's movements and his contact with outsiders if he serves his sentence under house arrest, while the RM50 million fine attached to his conditional pardon remains unpaid.

Speaking as a guest on the Trick Lama podcast, Shafee said Najib's wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, and immediate family members including children and grandchildren would be allowed to live with him at his residence in Langgak Duta here.

Visits from outsiders would require written permission in advance, he said, while interviews, the use of Facebook and appearances on podcasts would also be subject to approval. Najib would need permission to leave the residence, including for medical appointments, with contact numbers provided for emergencies.

Shafee said some of those decisions rest with the Prisons Department director-general.

He said Najib received a copy of the order four days before the podcast was recorded, about three weeks after it was issued, and was allowed only to examine the document without making a copy.

Shafee said Najib was not permitted to disclose the standard operating procedure for the house arrest.

On the length of the sentence, Shafee said Najib would serve the remainder of his six-year term in the SRC International case until Aug 23, 2028, but that the period would be extended if the fine was not paid.

"If he does not pay that RM50 million, then there will be an additional year," he said, taking it to 2029.

Shafee said house arrest was intended to help prisoners readjust to life in the community. He rejected suggestions that Najib's residence be fitted with barbed wire, floodlights and armed guard posts, describing them as unreasonable.

The conditional pardon was decided at the 64th meeting of the Pardons Board for the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya at Istana Negara on Sept 18, with the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Ibrahim.

According to a statement by the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister's Department, the pardon applies only if Najib pays the RM50 million fine and complies with all the conditions set. Should he breach any of them, the pardon is void and he must return to prison immediately to serve the remainder of his sentence.

Attorney General Tan Sri Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar confirmed on Sept 21 that the fine had not been paid, and that payment had to be made through the Kuala Lumpur High Court registry.

Umno launched the Najib Razak Solidarity Fund on Sept 18 to help meet the payment. Collections reached RM1 million in about a day, according to Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki.

Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on Sept 27 that the fund had collected RM9.25 million as of 10am that day, about 18.5 per cent of the target, leaving a shortfall of RM40.75 million.

"That amount has to be settled before the house arrest can be fully carried out," he said, speaking at the 18th annual general assembly of Parti Makkal Sakti Malaysia.

As of the checks made for this report, no more recent total could be verified. The amount collected by the fund is also not the same as a payment received by the court.

Shafee said earlier that Najib could not pay the sum himself because several of his bank accounts were frozen, and that he had never asked the public for donations because the fund was started by others.

Najib also faces several civil suits, while the Inland Revenue Board is claiming RM1.69 billion in unpaid taxes from him.

Shafee had said earlier that Najib could be released on Oct 14 if the High Court allowed his application to stay the sentence in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad case that day and the fine was settled on the same day.

The High Court instead dismissed that application on Oct 14. Judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin found that Najib had failed to establish sufficient special circumstances to suspend the 15-year prison sentence and RM11.4 billion fine in that case. His defence team said it intended to file a fresh application at the Court of Appeal.

Shafee said the ruling did not prevent Najib from serving the remainder of the SRC International sentence under house arrest, because the two cases are separate.

On Oct 16, Sentul district police chief Anuar Bakri Abdul Salam said police had not received any further information from the Prisons Department on whether Najib had been released and returned home.

"So far, we have not received any additional information from the Prisons Department," he said, adding that the situation at Najib's residence on Jalan Langgak Duta remained calm.

The disclosure of the house arrest conditions therefore has to be distinguished from confirmation that a transfer has taken place. Najib remains at Kajang Prison.

Najib, 73, has been serving his sentence since Aug 23, 2022, after being convicted over the misappropriation of RM42 million in SRC International funds. At the 61st Pardons Board meeting on Jan 29, 2024, his prison term was reduced from 12 years to six and his fine from RM210 million to RM50 million.

The Malaysian Bar has said it intends to challenge this second conditional pardon, arguing that no existing law provides for a house arrest mechanism in Malaysia. It is also pursuing its challenge to the first pardon in 2024, with the Court of Appeal due to deliver its decision on that appeal on Jan 27 next year.

With the last verifiable total still about RM40 million short of the target, the unanswered questions are not only when the fund will be enough, but when a payment will be confirmed as received by the court, and how the 1MDB sentence will affect how any house arrest is carried out.