NAJIB Razak does not receive special treatment in Kajang prison, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said today.

“No one receives any special treatment in the prison, including Najib.

“I stand by the statement issued by the Prisons Department director-general as they are the ones looking after the former prime minister 24 hours a day.

“The Prisons Department have their own officers and blocks… and they monitor Najib just like how they keep an eye on other inmates,” he was reported as saying during a press conference at the Home Ministry’s office at Putrajaya today.

However he said he was not aware of claims that Najib was not donning prisoners’ attire in jail.

Last month, preacher Wan Ji Wan Hussin had told Malaysiakini in an interview that Najib received “very special treatment” in prison and that he “does not wear the prisoner garb” but “normal clothes like one would at home”.

Wan Ji, who was recently released after serving his sentence in Kajang Prison, also said Najib was housed in a “special block” in the prison.

Prisons Department director-general Nordin Muhamad had refuted Wan Ji’s statement and stressed that every inmate was being treated equally.

On another matter, Saifuddin also touched on Najib’s application to finish his sentence under house arrest based on an addendum added to the partial pardon granted to him.

Saifuddin said he has no information about that addendum.

“I only received an application from Najib seeking to spend the rest of his jail time under house arrest.

“And I have no information about this additional document,” he said.

“I’m not a member of the Pardons Board. I don’t know.

“That’s why I mentioned that we will study the matter based on the information at hand,” he added.

According to a copy of Najib’s judicial review bid, he claimed that the addendum was issued by the previous Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Jan 29.

On Feb 2, the Pardons Board announced that it had halved Najib’s jail time from 12 years to six. This means Najib would be released from prison on Aug 23, 2028. – April 4, 2024.