Malaysia ex-PM Najib's house arrest suspended - NHKニュース

Malaysia's attorney-general's office has put on hold a plan to transfer former Prime Minister Najib Razak from prison to house arrest. This comes after a court granted him home detention following payment of a fine linked to his corruption conviction in the 1MDB state fund scandal. Najib cofounded the fund when he was in power.

Najib was jailed in 2022 after being found guilty of crimes including graft and money laundering in connection with the multibillion-dollar financial scandal.

In September, he was given permission to serve the remainder of his prison term under house arrest on condition that he pay a fine of about 12 million dollars.

A court issued an order for the home detention on Friday after his party announced the payment had been made. The party says the money was raised through crowdfunding. But the attorney-general's office says it needs time to review the procedure.

Najib was also sentenced to 15 years in a separate 1MDB case. That term is set to start after the current one ends, but he is appealing that case.

Najib has consistently denied any wrongdoing, but did apologize for his handling of the scandal.