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Malaysia’s house arrest budget surprise fuels speculation about Najib Razak’s release

Malaysia’s house arrest budget surprise fuels speculation about Najib Razak’s release

A government proposal to impose house arrest on some convicts has caused a stir Malaysiawith many speculating that his inclusion in Friday’s budget announcement was a ploy to pave the way for the early release of the imprisoned former prime minister Najib Razak.
The Prime Minister’s official published version included a line setting out plans for a new law that would allow house arrest “as an alternative for certain offences”. Anwar Ibrahim‘s budget speech.

However, Anwar did not mention the proposal during his two-and-a-half-hour speech, fueling speculation as to why such an important security and prison reform issue appeared to be included in the budget.

“What crimes would warrant house arrest? “Are corruption and criminal breach of trust suitable for house arrest?” asked Hassan Abdul Karim, a lawmaker from Anwar’s People’s Justice Party (PKR), apparently alluding to Najib’s deeply divisive party criminal convictions.
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak arrives in court for a hearing last month. Photo: EPA-EFE
Najib is currently behind bars for embezzling millions from a former unit of the scandal-plagued company 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). He is seeking a court order to enforce a document he claims was signed by the former king, allowing him to exchange his prison stay for house arrest.
Despite his conviction, Najib remains politically influential and claims that Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah separately approved the house arrest following a decree to that effect halved the former prime minister’s 12-year prison sentence in a final act of his five-year reign as Malaysia’s monarch.