KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 11): The Malaysian Bar has sought the court's permission to challenge the house arrest of Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
According to court documents filed on Nov 10 and sighted by The Edge, the Federal Territories Pardons Board, minister in Prime Minister's Department (law and institutional reform), commissioner general of prisons and Najib were named as respondents in the judicial review application.
The Bar, which oversees the legal profession, is seeking a court declaration that the processes, decisions, orders allowing for the house arrest arrangement are unconstitutional, null and void.
It also wants the court to quash and set aside the Federal Territories Pardons Board's proceedings on Sept 18 and related decision that allowed Najib to undergo house arrest.
It is also seeking a court declaration that any actions and steps taken by the law minister and prisons chief to enable or facilitate the house arrest are unlawful.
The Bar wants the court to stop Najib or his agents from submitting further applications to the Pardons Board until the full determination and disposal of all pending criminal cases.
The ex-parte (single party) hearing for leave (permission) is slated to take place on Thursday before High Court judge Indra Nehru Savandiah.
Najib was found guilty in 2020 of misappropriating RM42 million from former 1Malaysia Development Bhd subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd, and was sentenced to 12 years' jail and fined RM210 million.
He began serving the jail time in August 2022 after exhausting all judicial appeals. He pettioned for clemency to the Federal Territories Pardons Board, which is chaired by the King.
In January 2024, the board, under then-Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, halved Najib's jail time and reduced the fine to RM50 million.
Najib made another appeal for mercy, and on Sept 18, the board, now chaired by the King, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, allowed the former prime minister to serve the rest of the jail time under house arrest, on the condition that the RM50 million fine is paid.
Umno, the party Najib once led, paid the fine last Friday and a court order for Najib's house arrest was issued.
But Najib's anticipated return to his Langgak Duta home was delayed when Attorney General Tan Sri Dusuki Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar flagged issues in the court order.
On Tuesday, High Court judge Datuk Aslam Zainuddin revoked the disputed court order and issued a rectified order that clarified that the twice-convicted former prime minister is now under home confinement until Aug 23, 2028.
This is the Bar's second bid to challenge the Pardons Board's decisions regarding Najib.
The appellate court is set to decide on Jan 7 the Bar's bid to challenge the Pardons Board's first decision to reduce Najib's sentence.
The Bar had turned to the superior court after the High Court refused to grant leave to commence judicial review proceedings against the 2024 decision.
Najib's second conviction was in December 2025, when he was found guilty of corruption and money laundering related to RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds. However, he can't plead for mercy to the Pardons Board until he has made appeals to all the superior courts.