KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 14): Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak intends to challenge the High Court’s decision on Wednesday, which had rejected his application to stay the 15-year prison sentence for his 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) conviction. The application to challenge this decision will be filed at the Court of Appeal, his lawyer said.

Speaking to the media after the High Court decision on Wednesday, Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said this matter should be brought to the Court of Appeal, as his client has sufficient grounds for a stay to be given in his favour. 

"We will go to the Court of Appeal to file a similar application. We should get the stay because the appeal on the main case is going to take years," he told reporters after the proceedings.

Shafee expressed his shock and surprise at the High Court's decision to deny Najib’s stay, as the lawyer claims that Najib had met all legal requirements for a stay. 

He also disputed the court's finding that Najib could no longer be regarded as a first-time offender because of his previous conviction in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.

Shafee said the offences in the SRC and 1MDB cases occurred during approximately the same period and should not be treated as separate instances of repeat offending.

He said the defence would prioritise filing the fresh application at the Court of Appeal to avoid further delays.

"We can move quicker there. Stay first, then bail will become subsidiary," he said.

Shafee also clarified that this does not affect Najib’s house arrest bid, stating that Najib could still serve the remainder of his sentence in the SRC case under house arrest, subject to fulfilling the conditions attached to his pardon, including payment of the RM50 million fine.

Shafee said that Najib’s SRC sentence runs until August 2028, at which point his 1MDB sentence would begin, and if he is not given a stay, only then would he have to go back to prison, as the SRC house arrest and 1MDB sentences are separate. 

"It does not affect the house arrest. When my client pays RM50 million, he can serve the SRC order until 2028.

"Only in 2028, if he still does not get a stay in the 1MDB case after the house arrest, will he go back to prison," Shafee told reporters.

Najib was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment and fined RM11.38 billion by trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah on Dec 26 last year for abuse of power and money laundering.

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