Malaysia pardons board members at palace amid speculation of meeting on Najib clemency

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 - A cabinet minister and member of a Malaysian pardons board chaired by its king was seen at the royal palace on Friday, an aide to the minister and a Reuters journalist said, amid speculation of a meeting to discuss jailed ex-premier Najib Razak's bid for clemency.Najib, 73, who was prime minister from 2009 to 2018, has been in prison since 2022 and has sought a new royal pardon over his conviction related to a scandal at 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state fund he co-founded while in power.King Sultan Ibrahim postponed a decision on Najib's clemency bid last week, decreeing that the consideration of the request should be delayed until the next meeting, without specifying when that would take place.A Reuters journalist saw pardons board member Hannah Yeoh, the federal territories minister in the prime minister's office, arriving at the palace on Friday. An aide confirmed the minister was there but did not provide details.Media outlets the New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia said the attorney-general, another board member, was also seen arriving.The palace made no mention of the meeting on its Facebook page on Friday.More than $1 billion from 1MDB allegedly made its way into accounts linked to Najib. He has denied the allegations, saying he was made the scapegoat for the embezzlement of what US investigators say was $4.5 billion in a complex, globe-spanning scheme.In 2024, the pardons board, then chaired by the previous king, halved Najib's initial 12-year jail sentence and reduced the fines imposed on him. Najib has insisted that decision also included house arrest, but a legal effort to secure that was unsuccessful.Najib was sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison in December last year and fined $2.8 billion for abuse of power and money laundering in another 1MDB-related case. He has lodged an appeal. REUTERS