Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday that Datuk Seri Najib Razak was likely to receive a royal pardon and be released from a 12-year jail sentence.
“For Najib, it is highly likely that he will be pardoned after being imprisoned,” the 97-year-old said in a statement.
He did not elaborate.
The palace of King Al-Sultan Abdullah, which received a petition for a pardon from Najib loyalists a day earlier, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Mahathir’s remark.
Najib is believed to be close to some of Malaysia’s royals, and in May, Najib’s social media posts showed him attending Eid celebrations with the king.
But there has been no indication so far on how the palace would respond to any pardon application by Najib, who held power for nine years until 2018.
Nor has there been any sign yet of how Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob would regard a pardon for his old party leader, as he seeks to rehabilitate the image of the ruling United Malays National Organisation (Umno).