Najib and the Bail by Instalment Precedent

by | Jul 15, 2020 | Law

Back in July 2018, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak (“DSNR”) was charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of abuse of power. DSNR pleaded not guilty and His Lordship Sofian Abdul Razak J set a bail amount of RM1,000,000.[1] His Lordship allowed DSNR to pay the bail amount in two instalments.[2]

This was a momentous occasion in Malaysian jurisprudence as there had been no recorded instance of this ever happening prior to DSNR’s case. The closest to this is the High Court case of Ramlee & Anor v Public Prosecutor [1969] 1 MLJ 42 wherein the bailors were ordered to pay the bail money by instalments after the accused failed to appear in court.

DSNR’s case had become the precedent for bail by instalment. Subsequent to DSNR’s case, the following individuals were also allowed to pay their respective bail in instalments:

Individual Bail Amount Instalments
Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah RM1,000,000[3] 2
Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi RM2,000,000[4] 2
Datuk Seri Najib Razak RM3,500,000[5] 6
Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor RM1,000,000[6] 2
Datuk Rizal Mansor RM1,000,000[7] 2
Tan Sri Musa Aman RM2,000,000[8] 2

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