Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has asked the Kuala Lumpur High Court to suspend a 15-year prison sentence while he appeals his latest conviction arising from the 1MDB scandal.
His lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, said Friday that the court will decide the stay application on October 14. The request concerns the separate sentence imposed in December 2025, not the earlier conviction for which Najib has already been imprisoned since 2022.
The distinction has become important after Malaysia’s king granted a conditional pardon last week in the earlier case. That order would allow Najib to serve the balance of the first sentence under house arrest until an expected release date in August 2028, provided he pays a 50 million ringgit fine. His legal team says it has not yet received the formal pardon documents, and Najib has not paid the fine.
The newer 15-year term is due to follow the first sentence. A stay would pause enforcement of that additional punishment during the appeal; it would not overturn the conviction. Najib denies wrongdoing, although investigators in Malaysia and the United States have traced billions of dollars missing from the state fund and about $1 billion to accounts associated with him.
Until the High Court rules, both the stay request and the appeal remain pending.
