Malaysian minister Loke resigns, as ex-PM Najib is set for homecoming following court order

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke resigned with immediate effect on Nov 10 after a court cleared former prime minister Najib Razak to serve the remainder of his prison sentence at home, days after a delay in his transfer drew a stern rebuke from the nation’s King.The ruling resolved a dispute over the implementation of Najib’s conditional royal pardon, after his transfer to house arrest was suspended on Nov 6 despite the payment of a RM50 million (S$15.7 million) fine.“This decision is based on the principles and position I have previously explained,” said Loke, who is also DAP secretary-general, in a press statement on Nov 10.He had argued that granting house arrest to Najib would send the wrong message to future generations, given the scale of the corruption scandal and its impact on Malaysia’s economy and international reputation.Loke had initially said his resignation would take effect only when Najib physically returned home. But the Nov 10 ruling prompted him to announce his departure.Loke’s resignation marks the first major political fallout from the saga, exposing tensions within Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government, where Najib’s party UMNO has backed his return home while the Democratic Action Party (DAP), led by Loke, has opposed granting house arrest to the former prime minister.Najib’s transfer to house arrestThe new court order took immediate effect, clearing the path for Najib, 73, to be transferred from Kajang Prison to his Jalan Langgak Duta residence in Kuala Lumpur, which had been gazetted as a prison.Najib’s lawyer Farhan Shafee said the new order is not much different from the earlier one “except it is a simplified version so those who do not understand, will now understand it.”He said Najib is expected to be home by dinner time. “I think by 7.30 pm,” Farhan told The Straits Times.High Court judge Aslam Zainuddin set aside the Nov 6 discharge order and replaced it with a conditional order requiring Najib to serve the remainder of his SRC International prison sentence under house arrest.Farhan told ST that the new order makes no provision for Najib to return to Kajang Prison to serve his separate sentence in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) corruption case as that conviction remains under appeal.“The new order does not say that (to be sent back to prison) except that he is to serve the remainder of his SRC International sentence until Aug 23, 2028. It is because the 1MDB case is still on appeal. Anything can change,” said Farhan.Earlier in the day, the Attorney-General’s Chambers filed an application to rectify the Nov 6 order, seeking a fresh ruling consistent with the conditional royal pardon granted on Sept 18.Najib’s transfer had been expected on Nov 6, when UMNO paid the RM50 million fine required under the pardon, allowing him to serve the remainder of his SRC International sentence at home rather than in Kajang Prison.Legal hurdles and palace scrutinyThe suspension prompted UMNO members to lodge police reports in several parts of the country, while the party’s youth wing called for a nationwide investigation into whether any laws had been breached by delaying Najib’s transfer despite the payment of the fine.The delay prompted an intervention from the palace, with Sultan Ibrahim expressing displeasure over the handling of the matter and stressing that the King’s constitutional powers over pardons must be respected.Attorney-General Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar subsequently sought an audience with the King to seek forgiveness and explain the legal questions surrounding the discharge order, including its implications for when Najib’s separate prison sentence in the 1MDB case would begin.At the heart of the dispute was a legal distinction between releasing Najib from prison and transferring him to another location to continue serving his sentence.Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said on Nov 9 that the wording of the original court order had created confusion because a discharge would remove the Prison Department’s authority over Najib, while house arrest required him to remain under its supervision.“His status remains that of someone serving the remainder of his sentence. We are merely transferring him from Kajang to a location that has been gazetted,” he said.Saifuddin warned that implementing house arrest under an order explicitly requiring discharge could potentially expose the authorities to allegations of wrongful detention.“We have not changed a single sentence, comma or anything in the decision of the Pardons Board,” he said.Najib, who governed Malaysia from 2009 to 2018, has been imprisoned since August 2022 following his conviction for misappropriating RM42 million from SRC International, a former subsidiary of the scandal-hit state investment fund 1MDB.The royal pardon did not erase his conviction.Sign up for our weekly Asian Insider Malaysia Edition newsletter to make sense of the big stories in Malaysia.