Malaysia halved to six years the jail term for former prime minister Najib Razak who is currently imprisoned for corruption, the country's pardons board said Friday.

Najib was sentenced in 2022 to 12 years in jail for offenses linked to the misuse of public money in the multibillion-dollar 1MDB financial scandal.

"After considering opinions and advice, ...the pardon board has decided to grant a 50 percent reduction for the sentence and fine imposed on Najib Razak," it said in a statement.  

The board, which was chaired by the country's former King Sultan Abdullah, and included the attorney general among other officials, met on Monday -- two days before the king handed the rotational throne to a successor.

Following a lengthy trial Najib was found guilty in 2020 of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust over the transfer of 42 million ringgit($8.9 million) from former 1MDB unit SRC International to his personal bank account.

His bid to overturn the prison sentence was rejected by the country's top court.

The 70-year-old, who was prime minister from 2009 to 2018, had claimed he did not receive a fair hearing, alleging that a judge had a conflict of interest and that his new legal team was not allowed enough time to study the case documents.

He was ousted from power at the polls in 2018 by an opposition alliance of Malaysia's political patriarch Mahathir Mohamad amid anger over the scandal.