KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak could soon leave prison and serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest after a court ordered his transfer, his lawyer said on November 6.

The development followed Najib's political party announcing it had paid a fine required under the terms of a royal pardon.

Najib, 73, served as prime minister from 2009 to 2018. He was convicted of corruption linked to the theft of billions of dollars from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state investment fund he helped establish while in office. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

"We have that order, and we will be delivering that order to the Kajang prison right now," Najib's lawyer, Farhan Shafee, told reporters. Najib has been held at the prison since 2022.

Shafee said Najib could return home within days if the transfer process went according to plan.

Malaysia's King, Sultan Ibrahim, agreed in September to allow Najib to serve the rest of his prison sentence under house arrest. This was the second royal pardon granted in connection with his conviction.

One condition of the pardon was paying a 50 million ringgit (US$12.32 million) fine. Najib's party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), said it had paid the amount on his behalf.

UMNO raised the money through crowdfunding after Najib's lawyers said he could not pay the fine himself because his bank accounts had been frozen.

The 1MDB scandal involved billions of dollars allegedly diverted from the state fund. U.S. investigators estimated that the scheme took as much as $4.5 billion through international financial channels. More than $1 billion was allegedly transferred into accounts linked to Najib.

Najib has maintained that he was made a scapegoat for a complicated international corruption scheme.

He was also convicted in a separate 1MDB-related case in December last year. He received a 15-year prison sentence and a $2.8 billion fine for abuse of power and money laundering.

Najib has appealed against that conviction. His lawyers asked the court to suspend the prison sentence and fines while the court considered the appeal. They argued that his health was deteriorating and that he could not afford the large financial penalty.

However, a judge rejected the request last month, saying no special circumstances justified suspending the punishment. The judge added that "the gravity of the offense is a more important public interest consideration".

Divisive Figure

Najib remains a controversial figure in Malaysian politics but continues to have considerable influence within UMNO. The party is part of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's multi-party coalition government.

Anwar's Pakatan Harapan alliance has strongly opposed any move to reduce Najib's punishment or allow him to serve his sentence at home. His transfer could therefore increase tensions within the ruling coalition.

The next general election is not due until early 2028. However, Anwar has said he could call an early election if coalition disagreements worsen.

Tony Pua, a former lawmaker from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), played an important role in bringing the 1MDB scandal to public attention. He criticized UMNO for raising money to pay Najib's fine.

Pua described Najib as "Malaysia's biggest crook" and questioned why the party had chosen to support him financially.

"Instead of using such a large sum of money to help ordinary Malaysians, they chose to 'free' Malaysia's most corrupt," he said in a Facebook post.