The former Malaysian Prime Minister has now exhausted all possible legal remedies to have his conviction set aside.

As reported by the South China Morning Post and other news outlets, former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak failed last Friday (March 24) in his latest bid to overturn his corruption conviction linked to SRC International, a former unit of the scandal-tainted state sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, as the country’s highest court upheld its decision to send him to jail last August.

The 4-1 decision, the latest in a string of court setbacks for the ex-premier, means Najib will continue to serve his 12-year jail sentence.

In the ruling, the Federal Court found that Najib had failed on all three counts in his challenge to set aside his conviction.

According to reports, Najib had submitted additional evidence in his application to assert a conflict of interest in the case’s involvement of High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, who convicted the former prime minister in 2020.

Najib had also made an effort to challenge the Federal Court’s decision to proceed with his earlier appeal despite his counsel applying to withdraw from the case due to a lack of readiness, with Najib adding that he was denied justice.

“There has been no prejudice and no failure of justice,” said Justice Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, who chaired the bench, when reading aloud the decision.

The High Court’s decision now means that Najib has exhausted all possible legal avenues in his bid to quash his conviction. At this point, the only way he can secure an early release is if he were to receive a royal pardon from the king.