UPDATE: Najib Razak arrived at his residence in Taman Duta, Kuala Lumpur, this evening (November 10) to begin his house arrest.

A High Court judge has cleared the way for former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak to serve the remainder of his prison sentence in the SRC International case under house arrest.

Transport minister Anthony Loke has resigned, with immediate effect.

“Following the decision by the Kuala Lumpur High Court today for Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak to serve his sentence under house arrest, and in line with the position I announced last Friday, my resignation as Minister of Transport takes effect immediately,” Loke said.

“This decision is in adherence to the principles and stance I have previously articulated.”

Up until his resignation today, Loke had been transport minister from December 2022, having previously held the position from 2018 to 2020 under the then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.

He had been transport minister during negotiations with the maritime exploration company Ocean Infinity about its search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane MH370, which disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board.

Najib, who was Malaysia’s prime minister from 2009 to 2018, was jailed in August 2022 after the Federal Court upheld his convictions for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust, and money laundering involving 42 million ringgit in funds from SRC International.

He was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined 210 million ringgit.

Judge Aslam Zainuddin said that, in accordance with the order of conditional pardon issued by Malaysia’s king, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Ibrahim, Najib would serve the remainder of the reduced sentence of six years’ imprisonment in the SRC International case under house arrest. That sentence is due to run until August 23, 2028.

In January 2024, a royal pardon halved Najib’s prison term and reduced his fine in the SRC International case to 50 million ringgit.

In September of this year, Najib was granted a further conditional pardon, allowing him to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest until August 23, 2028, contingent upon payment of the 50 million ringgit fine and compliance with stipulated conditions.

The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), of which Najib is a former president, raised the money to pay the fine.

In the High Court today, Judge Aslam Zainuddin issued a clarification about the conditional pardon, and a new directive.

An earlier order, dated November 6, was cancelled and has been replaced with a new order, which states that Najib will serve his remaining sentence in the SRC International case under house imprisonment.

Today’s ruling comes after days of legal wrangling and a statement in which the palace had asserted: “Given that all conditions stipulated in the conditional pardon order have been met, any argument challenging this order effectively amounts to a defiance of the command of His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.”

Najib’s lawyers, Messrs Shafee & Co., had issued a four-and-a half-page statement in which they said that every condition for house arrest had been met.

“The pardon must be carried out,” the lawyers had said. “The pardon is an express order of His Majesty. It names one condition, payment of the fine, and that condition has been met …”

The attorney-general’s chambers (AGC) had said on November 6 that “execution of the sentence” at Najib’s home had been suspended.

The AGC said on November 6 that, given that the issues raised involve complex legal questions – with implications for the implementation of a royal pardon and court orders – and represented an unprecedented situation, that it was of the view that “a clear and definitive legal clarification must be obtained before any further enforcement action is taken”.

Malaysia’s Home Minister, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, has gazetted Najib’s Langgak Duta residence as a prison under the 1995 Prison Act.

On Dec 26, 2025, Najib was also sentenced separately to 15 years in prison and was fined RM11.387 billion (about 2.8 billion $US). He was found guilty of four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds that were deposited into his AmBank account between February 2011 and December 2014.

His lawyers have applied for a stay the execution of this conviction and sentence pending his appeal.

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