Malaysian ex-PM Najib gets 15 years jail in graft probe
A Malaysian court has sentenced former prime minister Najib Razak to 15 years in prison after convicting him on multiple charges of abuse of power and money laundering for his role in the multibillion-dollar fraud scandal at state fund 1MDB.
The judge sentenced Najib to 15 years in prison for each of the four abuse of power charges and five years in prison for each of the 21 money laundering charges, all to be served concurrently.
Najib, 72, has been in prison since August 2022 following a conviction in an earlier case related to 1Malaysia Development Berhad, which he co-founded in 2009 when he was prime minister.
He denied wrongdoing.
Najib was also fined 13.5 billion ringgit ($4.2 billion) on Friday.
Najib faces a further 10 years in prison if he does not pay his debt.
Najib’s lawyer said they planned to appeal the decision.
Dressed in a blue suit, Najib stood and was calm when the sentence was announced, then slumped into his chair in the dock.
The decision marked a major turning point in one of the world’s biggest financial scandals, which has spread across global markets and triggered investigations in the United States and other countries.
Najib has denied any wrongdoing and maintained that the funds were a political donation from Saudi Arabia and that he was misled by rogue financiers led by Low Taek Jho.
Low, thought to be the mastermind of the scandal, remains at large.
The judge said Najib’s claim of Saudi donations was “incredible”.
He said the four letters purporting to come from the Saudi donor were fake and that the evidence clearly showed the funds came from 1MDB.
Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah rejected defense claims that Najib was an unintended victim deceived by former 1MDB officials and Low.
The judge said witness statements pointed to an “undoubted link” between Najib and Low, who played a key role in the scandal and acted as a “proxy, conduit, intermediary and facilitator” for Najib at 1MDB.
The judge said Najib failed to take steps to verify the source of the huge funds and failed to take action against Low.
Instead, Najib used the money despite its questionable origins and took steps to protect his position, including sacking the then attorney general and anti-corruption chief who investigated the case.
While Najib returned most of the funds to the offshore account from which they came, he said this was clearly done to conceal the illegal source of the funds.
with AP
