Dec. 26 (UPI) — Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was found guilty Friday of abuse of power and money laundering in the ongoing 1 Malaysia Development Berhad scandal in the country.
A Malaysian court found Najib, 72, guilty of four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering for transferring about $543 million from 1MDB, a state wealth fund, into his own bank account.
Najib was sentenced to 15 years in prison in the case and was fined about $2.8 billion. He was already serving jail time for another conviction in the scandal. If he fails to pay the fine, he faces more jail time under Malaysian law.
Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah said he “considered the public interest element and the principle of deterrence, the length of his public service and other mitigating factors,” The New York Times reported.
Najib was convicted of abuse of power, money laundering and breach of trust in 2020 for misappropriation of $9.9 million in 1MDB. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for that case, but his sentence was later cut in half.
Investigators said they believe about $4.5 billion from the fund was transferred into private accounts. He has faced five criminal trials over the scandal.
Najib’s lawyer said the money was sent to him from the Saudi royal family. But the judge rejected that argument, saying the donation letters were forged.
“The accused is no country bumpkin but possessed of not only an impeccable family and a political pedigree, but of superior intelligence,” The Times reported Sequerah said. “Any attempt to paint the accused as an ignoramus or as hopelessly unaware of the misdeeds going around him must therefore fail miserably.”
Najib has also claimed he was deceived by advisers and other officials affiliated with 1MDB, including Jho Low, a Malaysian financier alleged to be the mastermind of the scheme. Low is in hiding.
“It pains me every day to know that the 1MDB debacle happened under my watch as minister of finance and prime minister,” Najib said in a letter.
“For that, I would like to apologize unreservedly to the Malaysian people.”
In June 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice said it reached an agreement with Low, his family and trust entities that Low established. It included civil forfeiture of more than $100 million.
The Justice Department said that more than $1.4 billion in assets associated with the scheme had already been returned to Malaysia.
In October 2020, Goldman Sachs and its Malaysian subsidiary agreed to pay $2.9 billion after admitting to bribery in the case.
In April 2023, Pras Michel, a founding member of the U.S. hip-hop group the Fugees, was convicted of being involved in a multi-million-dollar conspiracy to influence the White House under two administrations and for working as an agent for China that was allegedly part of the scheme run by Low.
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