MALAYSIA: A High Court judge said on Wednesday (Oct 30) that Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak will need to defend himself against more charges of money laundering and abuse of power related to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal.
As it stands, Najib is facing 21 charges of money laundering and four charges of abuse of power as he reportedly channelled RM 2.3 billion (S$694 million) from government-run strategic development company 1MDB, which he had co-founded in 2009, into his bank accounts.
The 1MDB scandal, which began to be exposed in local and international press in 2015, has been called one of the biggest financial scandals in the world.
In 2016, it was called the “largest kleptocracy case to date” by the United States Department of Justice.
The 71-year-old Najib, however, has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.
In 2022, he received a 12-year jail sentence, having been convicted of graft in a separate case linked to 1MDB.
However, a pardons board led by the King of Malaysia later cut the sentence in half, and the former Prime Minister should have been released from jail in 2028.
This time around, if Najib is found guilty, he could be slapped with a 20-year jail term and be made to pay back five times the amount involved in his offence.
The 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering were declared by High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequera as valid.
Moreover, he said that all the witnesses called by the prosecution were credible.
Najib’s response
A lawyer for the former Prime Minister, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, was quoted in a Reuters report as saying Najib had been “extremely disappointed” but was nevertheless ready to take the stand to defend himself.
He also said Najib wants to be cross-examined as “he has nothing to fear.”
Najib’s trial is set to resume on Dec 2.
On Oct 24, he issued an apology for having mishandled the 1MDB.
His son, Mohamad Nizar Mohd Najib, read a letter containing his apology at a media conference.
“It pains me every day to know that the 1MDB debacle happened under my watch as minister of finance and prime minister. For that, I would like to apologize unreservedly to the Malaysian people,” the letter read. /TISG