A Malaysian appeals court on Wednesday upheld former prime minister (PM) Najib Razak’s conviction in a multi-billion dollar corruption trial involving the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Last July, Najib was accused of diverting almost $9.88 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of 1MDB, into his personal bank accounts. The former PM was found guilty and subsequently sentenced to 12 years in prison.
“The court, in essence, found that the decision made by the high court judge was not erroneous,” said lead prosecutor V Sithambaram on Wednesday. “(That it was) according to law and facts and (there was) absolutely nothing wrong in the high court decision,” he added.
Justice Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, the head of the three-member panel that presided over Najib’s case, delivered the judgment, saying: “We dismiss the appeal on all seven charges and affirm the conviction.” “This is not something that can be said to be done in national interest. There is no national interest here,” he added.
The seven charges against the 68-year-old include three counts of money laundering, three counts of criminal breach of trust, and one count of abuse of power. For each count of criminal breach of trust and money laundering, Najib was sentenced to 10 years in jail. For abuse of power, the judge ordered a sentence of 12 years imprisonment and an RM210 million ($49.7 million) fine. In case Najib fails to pay the fine, he will have to serve an additional five-year jail sentence. All the sentences will run concurrently.
Najib’s lawyer, Shafee Abdullah, informed the court that his team would appeal the verdict at the Federal Court, Malaysia’s highest tribunal. Najib had been allowed bail pending appeal, and the court agreed he should remain free while he appeals to the Federal Court.
In addition, Najib and his legal team have been seeking to introduce new evidence, but the panel dismissed the request on Tuesday after Najib’s legal team requested for a postponement because one member of the team had tested positive for COVID-19. Najib, along with several lawyers in his defence team, attended the proceeding virtually through Zoom, as they were casual contacts of the COVID-19 positive case.
During Malaysia’s 14th general election in 2018, the Najib-led Barisan Nasional (BN) government was defeated, and Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the country’s next PM, called for investigations into the 1MDB scandal to be reopened. Although Najib has denied wrongdoing and appealed against the conviction, he was barred from leaving the country and police had seized cash and other valuable items from premises linked to him.
Nevertheless, the defamed PM remains popular within the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). He has also been attempting a political comeback in a country that has seen three prime ministers since the corruption scandal first began.