Former Malaysian PM Najib Razak Found Guilty of Abuse of Power in Latest 1MDB Trial
Najib Razak, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, has been found guilty of abuse of power in the latest trial related to the 1MDB scandal. He was charged with four counts of corruption and 21 counts of money laundering for allegedly receiving about 2.2 billion ringgit from the 1MDB fund.
Najib, aged 72, has been in jail since August 2022 after Malaysia's top court upheld a previous corruption conviction involving the illegal receipt of funds from a 1MDB unit. His original 12-year sentence in that case was later halved by a pardons board.
Investigators estimate that at least $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB, with more than $1 billion allegedly routed into accounts linked to Najib, charges he denies. Najib co-founded the 1MDB entity in 2009 and claims he was misled by 1MDB officials and fugitive financier Jho Low.
Jho Low has been charged in the United States for his role in the scandal; however, his current whereabouts are unknown and he denies any wrongdoing.
This trial is described as the biggest yet in the multibillion-dollar 1MDB fraud scandal.
