Was house arrest part of Najib pardon, asks Ismail Sabri

DATUK Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has asked that the government disclose if house arrest was a component of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s royal pardon application.

The former prime minister said he was made to understand that there was an appeal for Najib to be transferred from Kajang Prison to his residence for detention.

“I was made to understand this was included as an attachment in the pardon petition.

“Is this true? If yes, was it discussed when the pardon application was presented and what was the decision?” the Bera MP claimed when debating the motion of thanks on the royal address.

On Feb 2, the Pardons Board announced it had commuted the convicted former prime minister’s jail term from 12 years to six, and reduced his fine to RM50mil from RM210mil.

It said Najib would be released on Aug 23, 2028.

Najib, 70, who has been serving the jail sentence at Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022, after being convicted of misappropriating RM42mil in SRC International funds, filed the petition for a royal pardon on Sept 2, 2022.

Separately, Ismail Sabri renewed calls for the reintroduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

He said this could prevent the increasing prices of goods due to ineffective taxation systems.

When asked by Chong Zhemin (PH-Kampar) on why the GST was not reintroduced during his tenure as prime minister, Ismail Sabri said the matter was discussed by the Cabinet.

“We issued a statement that the Cabinet did discuss the matter and that it was being studied,” he added.

Previously, Ayer Hitam MP Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong had said reviving the GST would be a conclusive resolution to improve tax returns compared to imposing a slew of taxes.

Dr Wee also said the government could label the tax differently, if they felt awkward in using the term GST.

“You can call it the value-added tax, consumption tax or Madani tax, as long as it is a consumption-based tax,” he said when debating the motion of thanks on the royal address on Feb 28.

The GST was introduced in April 2015 but was scrapped three years later by the Pakatan Harapan administration in 2018 under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s leadership. It was replaced by the sales and service tax.

Effective March 1, the service tax was revised to 8% from 6%.

However, Putrajaya said the new service tax rate for services widely used by Malaysians such as food and beverage, telecommunications and parking, remains unchanged at 6%.