Najib Razak vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:
Former Malaysian leader Najib Razak was found guilty on Tuesday in his first trial over the multi-billion dollar 1MDB scandal, two years after the fraud contributed to the fall of his long-standing government.
The former prime minister could now face decades in prison after being found guilty of all charges in the looting case of the sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
Billions of dollars have been stolen from the investment vehicle and spent on everything from high-end real estate to expensive art, while investment bank Goldman Sachs has also been embroiled in the scandal.
Anger over the looting played a big role in the shock loss of Najib’s longtime coalition in the 2018 election, and he was arrested and charged with dozens of charges after his defeat.
The verdict was a test of Malaysia’s rule of law. This comes about five months after the scandal-ridden Najib party returned to power as part of a coalition, a development observers feared could affect the outcome of the case.
About 16 months after its start, the Kuala Lumpur High Court delivered the verdict in Najib’s first trial, which involved the transfer of 42 million ringgit ($ 9.9 million) from a former 1MDB unit, SRC International, in its accounts.
Najib had vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
But Judge Mohamad Nazlan Mohamad Ghazali dispelled all arguments put forward by his defense and found him guilty of the seven charges he faced.
“In conclusion, after reviewing all the evidence from this trial, I find that the prosecution has succeeded in proving the case,” the judge told the court.
Abuse of power
The charges were one of abuse of authority, three of criminal breach of trust and three of money laundering.
Charges of abuse of power and criminal breach of trust carry 20 years in prison each, while money laundering charges carry 15 years each.
The conviction was not pronounced immediately. The 67-year-old will likely appeal and he may not be sent to jail immediately. If his conviction is upheld, he will also be expelled from his political office for several years.
Najib had insisted that he ignored the transactions.
The defense team portrayed Najib as a victim and instead sought to portray financier Low Taek Jho, a key figure in the scandal who was indicted in the United States and Malaysia, as the mastermind.
Low, whose whereabouts are unknown, maintains his innocence.
Prosecutors insisted that Najib controlled the 1MDB unit, SRC International.
The return to power of Najib’s coalition party in March followed the collapse of the reformist administration of Mahathir Mohamad.
Since then, 1MDB-related charges have been unexpectedly dropped against ex-frontman Riza Aziz’s stepson, a producer of Hollywood film “The Wolf of Wall Street”, in exchange for agreeing to return his assets. to Malaysia.
Prosecutors also dropped dozens of charges against the ally of Najib Musa Aman, the former head of state of Sabah.
The amounts involved in Najib’s first case are modest compared to those in his second and larger trial, which centers on allegations that he illegally obtained more than $ 500 million.
Malaysia had accused Goldman Sachs and some current and former staff, claiming large sums were stolen when the bank organized bond issues for 1MDB.
But the two sides agreed to a $ 3.9 billion settlement last week in exchange for the charges being dropped.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
