KUALA LUMPUR: Individuals sentenced to more than 10 years in prison will not be eligible for house arrest under the proposed new law, says Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
He said the House Arrest Bill proposed by his ministry was to address the issue of remand detainees, not convicts.
“For now, our intention (for house arrest) is for individuals ordered by the courts to be remanded until their trial dates.
“Those sentenced to 10 years or more in prison will not be eligible for consideration. This shows how serious we are,” he said in his winding-up speech on Budget 2025 in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (Nov 7).
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Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan (PN-Kota Bharu) and Ramkarpal Singh (PH-Bukit Gelugor) had asked if former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak would be allowed to serve the remainder of his prison sentence at home.
“In Najib’s case, he has been convicted and sentenced. Will the proposed house arrest apply?” Ramkarpal asked.
Najib has been serving his sentence in Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022 after being convicted of misappropriating RM42mil from SRC International Sdn Bhd.
The 71-year-old former premier filed for a royal pardon on Sept 2, 2022, resulting in the Pardons Board halving his prison sentence from 12 years to six and reducing the fine from RM210mil to RM50mil.
Takiyuddin pressed Saifuddin further, asking if the alleged addendum on house arrest linked to Najib’s partial pardon existed.
In response, Saifuddin said the courts had already ruled that the alleged addendum was hearsay.
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“If there is a dispute between the government and the people, the courts will make a decision. If the court ruled that it was hearsay, then you should know what it means.
“Your view is that this matter should be answered by the government. But, because there is a dispute here, we (left) it to the court to decide,” said Saifuddin.
The Court of Appeal has set Dec 5 to hear Najib’s appeal against the dismissal of his leave application for a judicial review regarding an alleged addendum on house arrest.
His application was rejected by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on July 3 when it ruled that the four affidavits supporting his claim, including those from Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and vice-president Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, were hearsay.
