The Malaysian High Court has convicted former Prime Minister Najib Razak on four counts of abuse of power for transferring more than $700 million from the 1MDB fund into his personal accounts, and found him guilty on all 21 charges related to money laundering. The court deemed the claim of donations from Saudi Arabia as untrustworthy. The judge stated that Najib "is not a naive person" after Najib claimed he was deceived.
Today (26 Dec), the Malaysian High Court sentenced 72-year-old former Prime Minister Najib Razak for four counts of abuse of power, part of a multi-billion dollar corruption case involving the embezzlement of funds from Malaysia's 1MDB economic development fund.
During the trial, Najib denied all allegations, consistently claiming that the over $700 million (about 21.74 billion baht) transferred into his personal accounts were political donations from the Saudi royal family, and that he was deceived by Jho Low, an influential financier who remains a fugitive.
However, Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah stated that the claim was "too difficult to believe" because evidence clearly showed that the four letters purportedly from Saudi donors were forged, and the money clearly originated from the 1MDB fund. Additionally, evidence demonstrated an "inseparable relationship" between Najib and Jho Low, who acted as Najib's main representative and coordinator for the fund.
The judge sharply remarked, "The defendant is not a naive country bumpkin," and any attempt to portray him as ignorant of the irregularities around him has completely failed.
The court also found Najib Razak guilty on all 21 counts of money laundering related to the 1MDB corruption case, in which billions were embezzled from the now-defunct national wealth fund. Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah stated, "The court finds the defendant guilty on all 21 counts and sentences accordingly."
Najib Razak served as Prime Minister from 2009 to 2018. He founded and chaired the advisory board of the 1MDB fund, which became a global scandal. The U.S. Department of Justice stated that over $4.5 billion was embezzled and laundered through multiple countries to buy luxury real estate, yachts, high-end art, and even to finance Hollywood films, with a former U.S. Attorney General calling it "the worst kleptocracy case ever."
Najib is currently serving a prison sentence from a prior case (the SRC International case), initially sentenced to 12 years but reduced to six years by a pardon board earlier in 2024. Moreover, last Monday, the court rejected his request for house arrest as a form of sentence reduction.
Meanwhile, his wife, Rosmah Mansor, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in a separate corruption case in 2022 and is currently out on bail pending appeal.
This latest verdict may extend Najib’s prison term beyond the original release date set for August 2028, marking the lowest point for the scion of a powerful political dynasty that ruled Malaysia for decades.
. AP