Malaysia’s influential former prime minister Najib Razak was dealt a major blow on Friday in the biggest trial of the 1MDB scandal. The High Court convicted him of abuse of power and money laundering and sentenced him to an additional 15 years in prison and imposed a hefty fine of $2.8 billion (about 11.39 billion ringgit). This decision is considered to have far-reaching effects not only legally but also politically. According to Malaysian and US investigative agencies, at least $4.5 billion was embezzled from government fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which Najib co-founded after becoming prime minister in 2009.
According to the court, this scam allegedly led to more than one billion dollars in accounts linked to Najib. Najib, 72, has already been jailed in 2022 in another 1MDB case and has consistently claimed he was made a scapegoat in Malaysia’s biggest financial scandal. However, in a judgment that lasted nearly five hours, High Court judge Colin Lawrence Sequerah rejected the argument outright and said that Najib’s claim that he had been cheated repeatedly was “a stretch of the imagination”.
The court found Najib guilty of all four counts of abuse of power and all 21 counts of money laundering. After the current sentence expires in 2028, the 15-year sentence for each abuse-of-power count and 5 years for each money-laundering charge will run concurrently. Apart from this, the court has also ordered the confiscation of assets worth 2.08 billion ringgit, failing which an additional jail term will be imposed. Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Shafi Abdullah said he would appeal against the verdict.
The verdict could also pose a major challenge to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ruling coalition, which includes Najib’s United Malays National Organization (UMNO). Despite being in jail, Najib is considered to have a significant influence on the party. Judge Sequerah clearly stated that there is substantial, solid and irrefutable evidence against Najib, which shows that he abused his powerful position and extensive rights in 1MDB.
The role of fugitive financier Joe Low is also considered important in this case, who allegedly financed superyachts, private jets, luxury properties and the Hollywood film ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ with the money withdrawn. Najib had claimed that the money in his accounts was a donation from the Saudi royal family, but the court rejected this argument as unreliable. After the verdict, Najib appealed for calm and vowed to continue his legal battle, while the case appears to be sparking new tensions and debates in Malaysian politics.