KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -A Malaysian court will decide on December 22 whether jailed former prime minister Najib Razak can serve his sentence under house arrest, just days before delivering its verdict in another major case he faces over the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal.

Najib, 72, is serving a six-year jail sentence after being found guilty of graft and money laundering in one of several cases he faces linked to the alleged theft of billions of dollars from 1Malaysia Development Berhad – a state fund he helped establish in 2009 while he was premier.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed a request from Najib’s lawyers to move the date forward during proceedings on Tuesday, Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan told Reuters. The decision had been scheduled for January 5.

The house ar

See Full Page