(Sept 29): Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said he will quit Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Cabinet once jailed former PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak begins serving his house arrest granted under a conditional royal pardon. 

Loke said he submitted his resignation letter on Monday to Anwar, who asked him to remain in his role temporarily. 

Anwar “will make a decision”, Loke said at a briefing in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. “But I said there is a timeframe. The timeframe is the day Najib returns home, my resignation takes effect.”

Loke, the secretary general of the Democratic Action Party — the biggest component of Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan coalition — earlier announced his intention to resign from the Cabinet in response to the royal reprieve given to Najib. The DAP has long campaigned to bring Najib to justice for his role in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal. 

Malaysia’s Pardons Board, chaired by the King, on Sept 18 allowed Najib to serve the remainder of his six-year jail term for a 2022 conviction under house arrest through August 2028. The sentence, related to 1MDB, was halved from 12 years under a royal reprieve by the previous king in 2024. The house arrest is conditional on Najib paying a RM50 million fine.

Najib has yet to pay the amount and is applying to pause his 15-year prison term for another 1MDB conviction to allow him to remain out of jail while his appeals are heard. 

Read also:
Anwar to discuss Loke's resignation as transport minister with him
Najib house arrest: Loke says he's the only one DAP minister to resign to prevent govt collapse as some would want it to happen

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