KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's former premier Najib Razak arrived home on Tuesday to begin serving the remainder of his sentence under house arrest, ending a four-year stint in prison over his role in the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal.
Najib reached his Kuala Lumpur residence late at night in an SUV escorted by prison trucks, police cars and motorcycles, with masked armed guards leaning from open vehicle doors.
His face was illuminated by camera flashes as scores of journalists jostled for a glimpse of the once-powerful leader before the convoy disappeared into the heavily guarded compound.
Prime minister from 2009 to 2018, Najib was convicted of corruption in relation to embezzlement of funds from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a state investment fund he co-founded while in power.
Najib, 73, will spend the remaining two years detained in his residence as part of a royal pardon he received in September. It was the second reduction in two years after a previous king halved his original 12-year sentence.
One of Malaysia's most influential and divisive political figures, Najib has consistently denied wrongdoing and maintains he was made a scapegoat for the globe-spanning scheme that US investigators say siphoned off about $4.5 billion from 1MDB. Prosecutors have said more than $1 billion ended up in accounts linked to him.
LAST-DITCH INTERVENTION
He had been expected to leave prison last Friday, but the attorney general halted the transfer, outraging his political allies and prompting a warning from King Sultan Ibrahim against defying his decree.
The court earlier on Tuesday ruled that an order issued last week be set aside and replaced with a new order that allows Najib's house arrest to start immediately.
News of Najib's release from prison is likely to frustrate his political opponents and the lawmakers and investigators who spent years chasing the missing 1MDB funds and building cases against the former premier over one of Asia's largest financial scandals.
'HANDLE THE MATTER MATURELY'
Najib apologised in 2024 for mishandling the affair, saying he was misled by 1MDB officials and fugitive financier Jho Low about the source of the funds in his accounts. Low denies wrongdoing and his whereabouts are unknown.
Low and his associates used funds siphoned from 1MDB to buy luxury assets ranging from a private jet and a superyacht to artworks, hotels and jewellery, and to finance the 2013 Hollywood film "The Wolf of Wall Street", US lawsuits have said.
Following the court's ruling, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said all parties should "handle the matter maturely and responsibly".
"This is a high-profile case with significant political implications and public perception," he said in a statement.
"They should not let political polemics undermine the people's confidence in the nation's institutions."
The latest decision came after the king on Saturday warned against prolonged uncertainty or any challenge that he said could amount to defying a pardon that was "clear, explicit and without any ambiguity".
Najib's legal troubles are not over, however.
He was convicted in a separate 1MDB-related case last December of abuse of power and money laundering and sentenced to 15 years in prison with fines of $2.8 billion and has appealed that verdict.
