KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Najib Razak faces judgment on Friday (Dec 26) for his alleged involvement in Malaysia’s 1MDB mega-graft scandal, with a guilty verdict likely to add years to a sentence already being served.
The 72-year-old faces four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering relating to the plunder of hundreds of millions of dollars from the Southeast Asian nation’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, sparking probes in several countries.
If found guilty, the man once seen as political royalty faces years more behind bars, already serving a six-year jail term after a conviction in a separate case relating to the 1MDB fund.
It was not known whether sentencing would immediately follow a guilty verdict, but if acquitted, Najib will return to Kajang Prison outside Kuala Lumpur to continue serving his prior sentence.
The verdict proceeding, expected to start at 9am before the Kuala Lumpur High Court, will take place in Malaysia’s administrative capital Putrajaya.
Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah will deliver his verdict in the marathon trial, seen as the main case in the 1MDB affair and which involves some 2.28 billion ringgit (US$563 million).
Prosecutors say Najib abused his position as prime minister, finance minister and 1MDB advisory board chairman to move large amounts of money from the fund to his personal accounts more than a decade ago.
The prosecution presented bank records, testimony from over 50 witnesses and documentary evidence, while slapping down defence arguments blaming Najib’s close associate – the shadowy fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low.
Low, who is currently on the run, is seen as the mastermind behind the scheme to plunder the country’s investment vehicle and spend the proceeds on everything from high-end real estate to pricey art, including a Monet and a Van Gogh.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/malaysias-najib-face-verdict-in-mega-1mdb-graft-trial-5709301
