Court finds Malaysia’s former PM Najib Razak guilty of abuse of power

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been found guilty in his second major trial involving the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal.

The ruling was handed down by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Friday, where Najib, 72, faced four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering over the illegal transfer of about 2.2 billion Malaysian ringgit ($539 million) from 1MDB.

Prosecutors say Najib abused his position as prime minister, finance minister and 1MDB advisory board chairman to move large amounts of money from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund to his personal accounts more than a decade ago.

Najib was previously found guilty and sentenced in 2020 to 12 years ‘ imprisonment for misappropriating around $9.9 million in 1MDB funds. His sentence was later commuted to six years.

This trial, Najib’s second, was widely considered to be the most significant to date because it directly involved 1MDB entities and much larger sums of money.

The marathon legal proceedings have spanned seven years, and saw lawyers call 76 witnesses to the stand, including Najib himself.

“The trial has had a lot of delays, and it’s a very complicated thing to understand,” said Bridget Welsh, an honorary research associate with the University of Nottingham Asia Research Institute Malaysia.

“These financial crimes are multi layered, and it’s been a long, extensive process,” Welsh told media.

Najib apologised last year for mishandling the 1MDB scandal, but during his recent trial maintained that he had been led astray by the fugitive Malaysian financier Jho Low, who has been wanted by Interpol since 2016 and whose current whereabouts are unknown.