Najib drops his appeal for house arrest, court records show
Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has stopped his court attempt to be put on house arrest in the SRC case, which means he is no longer asking the courts to enable him to spend the rest of his six-year jail term at home.
The goal of Najib’s appeal was to be allowed to serve the remainder of his term at his Kuala Lumpur home, instead of Kajang Prison.
But Najib has now dropped or cancelled this appeal, and continues to remain in prison.
Based on court documents sighted by Malay Mail, the law firm representing Najib (Shafee & Co) had on April 3 informed the Court of Appeal that it was filing a Notice of Discontinuance for the appeal.
In the notice of discontinuance dated April 2, there was only one sentence to inform the courts that Najib would no longer pursue his appeal for house arrest: “Please take note that the appellant named above wishes to terminate and withdraw this appeal against the respondents without liberty to file afresh and with no order as to costs.”
In that notice to the court, Najib did not give any reason for why he was permanently cancelling his appeal for house arrest.
On April 14, the Court of Appeal’s deputy registrar Adilah Mohtar officially recorded that the Notice of Discontinuance filed by Najib’s lawyers was in order, and recorded the appeal as being struck out.
Now that Najib has dropped his court appeal for house arrest “without liberty to file afresh”, it means that he can no longer file an appeal again in this case for house arrest.
When will Najib’s six-year jail term in SRC case end?
Najib has been a prisoner since August 23, 2022, when he began serving his 12-year jail term over the misappropriation of SRC International Sdn Bhd’s RM42 million.
In 2024, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in a Pardons Board meeting decided to reduce Najib’s jail term to six years, and also reduced his fine from RM210 million to RM50 million.
Najib’s reduced six-year jail term would end either in August 2028 or August 2029, depending on whether he pays the RM50 million fine.
Criminal lawyers previously told Malay Mail that Najib’s imprisonment in the SRC case could end even earlier in August 2026 or August 2027 (again depending on whether he pays the fine), if he is given the typical one-third remission or reduction of jail time for prisoners with good behaviour.
Najib would be either 73 or 74 by then.
Najib’s separate 15-year jail term in the 1MDB case
Separately, on Dec 26, 2025, the High Court found Najib guilty on all 25 charges involving more than RM2 billion in misappropriated 1MDB funds, and sentenced him to prison and fines.
The High Court ordered Najib to start serving his 15-year jail term in the 1MDB case after he completes his six-year jail term in the SRC case.
Najib is appealing against his conviction and sentence in the 1MDB case.
When contacted by Malay Mail after a case management last Friday, Najib’s lawyer Wan Mohammad Arfan Wan Othman confirmed that the Court of Appeal has scheduled May 22 as the next case management date for the appeal.
Arfan said the lawyers are currently waiting for the High Court’s written judgment in the 1MDB case, and the next case management would be for further updates on the status of the judgment.
On March 26, Najib’s lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah reportedly denied that his client had filed a new application for a royal pardon.
[Source: Malay Mail]
