Unpaid RM50 million keeps Najib behind bars
Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak remains in prison because he has not paid the RM50 million fine required under his conditional pardon, Attorney-General Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar said on November 1, 2026. The payment, equivalent to about S$15.7 million, is a condition for serving the remainder of his SRC International sentence under house arrest until August 23, 2028.
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Mohd Dusuki said the latest information received by the Attorney-General's Chambers showed that the fine remained outstanding. No specific deadline had been set for payment, he said, but Najib would continue serving his sentence in prison while it remained unpaid.
The attorney-general spoke after launching the Attorney-General's Chambers MADANI Adopted School Programme at Sekolah Kebangsaan Pasir Hor in Kota Bharu. He explained the immediate consequence of the outstanding payment:
As long as the fine has not been paid, Datuk Seri Najib will remain in prison.
Najib's lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, has said the former prime minister cannot afford the fine. Umno has launched a fundraising campaign to help meet the payment, appealing to party leaders, members and supporters for contributions.
The financial condition is only part of Najib's wider legal position. A separate sentence of 15 years in prison in a case involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, is due to begin after his SRC sentence ends. He has appealed against that conviction and sentence.
What the conditional pardon allows
King Sultan Ibrahim granted Najib a conditional pardon permitting him to serve the remaining SRC prison term at home, subject to payment of the RM50 million fine. The arrangement became public on September 18, 2026, and runs until August 23, 2028.
The Prime Minister's Department's Legal Affairs Division said the decision was made at the 64th meeting of the Pardons Board for the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya, held at Istana Negara and chaired by the King.
House arrest means serving a sentence at an approved residence under restrictions rather than inside a prison. For Najib, the proposed change concerns where he serves the remaining SRC term. Payment of the fine is the condition that must be met before that move can proceed.
Prison authorities also have administrative arrangements to complete. On October 18, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the Prisons Department was in the final phase of preparing the rules, as detailed when house arrest rules neared completion. Shafee identified Najib's residence in Langgak Duta, Kuala Lumpur, as the intended location.
Mohd Dusuki previously said the fine must be paid at the Kuala Lumpur High Court Registrar's Office, where the SRC case was heard. Payment would then be followed by administrative processing. No transfer date has been announced.
Why the fine is now RM50 million
The Kuala Lumpur High Court convicted Najib in July 2020 on seven charges involving RM42 million belonging to SRC International. It sentenced him to 12 years in prison and imposed a fine of RM210 million.
The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction and sentence in December 2021. The Federal Court did the same in August 2022, leaving the criminal judgment in place after those appeals.
At its 61st meeting on January 29, 2024, the Pardons Board reduced the prison term from 12 years to six years and the fine from RM210 million to RM50 million. The later conditional pardon introduced the possibility of serving the remaining term under house arrest.
The 2024 decision cut the prison term by half. It reduced the fine by RM160 million, or about 76 percent, leaving roughly 24 percent of the original financial penalty payable. Despite that reduction, the outstanding amount remains large enough for Najib's lawyers to say he lacks the means to settle it.
Umno turns to supporters for contributions
Shafee has said Najib does not have the financial means to pay the RM50 million. Najib's lawyers have also said government restrictions on his assets limit his ability to raise the money.
Umno responded by establishing the Najib Solidarity Fund, also called Tabung Solidariti Najib. The party appealed to its leaders, members and supporters to contribute towards the fine.
The fundraising campaign gives supporters a direct role in trying to meet the payment condition. Mohd Dusuki's November 1 update, however, was that the requirement remained unfulfilled. He gave no figure for contributions collected by the fund.
For Najib and his family, the practical consequence is continued imprisonment while efforts to raise the money proceed. The absence of a payment deadline leaves the timing open, but the attorney-general's position is that house arrest cannot begin while the fine remains unpaid.
A separate 1MDB prison term lies ahead
The High Court sentenced Najib on December 26, 2025, to 15 years in prison and fined him RM11.4 billion in a separate criminal case involving RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds.
That judgment followed convictions on four charges of abuse of power and 21 charges of money laundering. Abuse of power concerns misuse of official authority. Money laundering concerns dealings with money obtained through unlawful activity.
Najib filed an appeal against the conviction and sentence on December 29, 2025, three days after the judgment. The prison term is scheduled to begin after he completes his SRC sentence.
On October 14, 2026, the High Court refused to suspend the 15-year sentence. That ruling leaves a further prison term scheduled after August 2028 while Najib pursues his appeal.
The two criminal cases therefore affect different parts of his confinement. The RM50 million condition concerns a move to house arrest during the remaining SRC term. The separate 1MDB judgment governs the sentence scheduled to follow it. Its RM11.4 billion fine is also separate from the SRC fine.
SRC also has a civil repayment judgment
Najib faces substantial financial claims outside the criminal proceedings. On March 31, the High Court ordered him to repay about US$1.3 billion to SRC International after finding that he had breached his fiduciary duties, abused his position and misappropriated company funds for personal gain.
A fiduciary duty is a legal responsibility to act faithfully in the interests of another person or organisation when entrusted with its affairs. In this case, the court found that Najib had failed in his duties towards SRC.
The High Court subsequently granted a stay of execution pending his appeal. A stay pauses enforcement of a court order, so collection under that repayment judgment is on hold while the appeal proceeds.
The civil repayment order and the criminal fine serve different purposes. The repayment judgment requires money to be returned to SRC, while the RM50 million fine is a punishment imposed in the criminal case and is now a condition of the house arrest arrangement.
Other civil proceedings involve SRC International and its subsidiary Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd, including litigation concerning RM42 million and a suit filed by Gandingan Mentari in 2021. Najib also faces a US$5.64 billion civil suit brought by 1MDB and four subsidiaries. Those claims remain before the courts.
How the key decisions unfolded
Najib's current position follows several court judgments, appeals and pardon decisions. The main dates show how the SRC sentence, the proposed house arrest and the separate 1MDB punishment developed:
- July 2020: The Kuala Lumpur High Court convicts Najib in the SRC case, imposing 12 years in prison and a RM210 million fine.
- December 2021 and August 2022: The Court of Appeal and Federal Court uphold the SRC conviction and sentence.
- January 29, 2024: The Pardons Board reduces the SRC term to six years and the fine to RM50 million.
- December 26, 2025: The High Court imposes a separate 1MDB sentence of 15 years and a RM11.4 billion fine. Najib appeals on December 29.
- September 18, 2026: The conditional pardon allowing house arrest until August 23, 2028, subject to payment, becomes public.
- October 14 and 18, 2026: The High Court refuses to suspend the 1MDB sentence; the home minister later says house arrest rules are nearing completion.
- November 1, 2026: The attorney-general confirms that the RM50 million fine remains unpaid and Najib remains in prison.
The Bottom Line
- Najib has not paid the RM50 million SRC fine, according to the attorney-general's latest update.
- No specific payment deadline has been set, but he remains in prison while the fine is outstanding.
- The conditional pardon permits house arrest for the remaining SRC term until August 23, 2028, subject to payment.
- Umno has launched a solidarity fund after Najib's lawyer said he could not afford the fine.
- A separate 15-year 1MDB prison sentence is scheduled to follow the SRC term. Najib has appealed.
- Enforcement of a US$1.3 billion SRC civil repayment judgment is paused pending appeal, while other civil claims continue.
