Ex-Malaysia PM Najib convicted of looting state investment fund
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia—Najib Razak was sentenced to at least four 15-year prison terms after he was convicted Friday in connection with the multibillion-dollar looting of state investment fund 1MDB.
The nation’s High Court found the detained former Malaysian prime minister guilty on four counts of abuse of power and 21 charges of money laundering after it ruled that he channeled more than $700 million from 1MDB into his personal bank accounts.
Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah sentenced Najib, 72, to 15 years in prison for each charge of abuse of power, and five years for each of the 21 money laundering charges against him, for a total of 165 years in prison.
The new sentence will run after his current jail term for an earlier 1MDB case ends, the judge said.
Najib was also imposed a hefty fine of 11.4 billion ringgit ($2.8 billion) for the abuse of power charges, on top of 2.08 billion ringgit ($514 million) in assets to be confiscated under money laundering laws. If he fails to pay, he faces more years in prison.
His lawyer Mohamed Shafee Abdullah said Najib would appeal the verdict, adding the judge “made so many blunders.”
Dressed in a blue suit, Najib stood up and was calm when the sentencing was announced, later slumping back in his chair in the dock.
Political donation claim
The ruling marked a milestone in one of the world’s largest financial scandals, which rippled across global markets and even triggered investigations in the United States and other countries.
Najib denied any wrongdoing and maintained the funds were a political donation from Saudi Arabia. He said he had been misled by rogue financiers led by Low Taek Jho, the scandal’s alleged mastermind, who remains at large.
Sequerah said Najib’s claim of a Saudi donation was “incapable of belief.” Four letters purportedly from the Saudi donor were forged and evidence clearly showed the funds originated from 1MDB, he said.
He rejected defense arguments that Najib was an unwitting victim duped by Low and former 1MDB officials.
‘Facilitator’
Witness testimonies had pointed to an “unmistakable bond” between Najib and Low—who operated as “the proxy, the conduit, the intermediary and the facilitator” for Najib in 1MDB, the judge said.
The judge noted that Najib failed to verify the origin of the massive funds and take action against Low.
Instead, he used the money despite its suspicious origins and took steps to protect his position—including removing the then attorney general and anticorruption chief investigating the case, the judge said.
While Najib returned most of the funds to their offshore account, Sequerah said this was clearly staged to conceal the illicit origin of the funds.
Earlier conviction
“The accused was no country bumpkin,” said the judge, who took five hours to read the ruling. “Any attempt to paint the accused as an ignoramus who was hopelessly unaware of the misdeeds going around him must, therefore, fail miserably.”
Najib, who served as prime minister from 2009 to 2018, is currently serving a 12-year prison term from his 2020 conviction in an earlier 1MDB case. The scandal it had caused at that time led to his government’s defeat in 2018.
He was sentenced for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving 42 million ringgit ($10.3 million) channeled into his accounts from SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB.
He began his sentence in August 2022 after losing a final appeal, becoming Malaysia’s first former leader to be imprisoned.
The Pardons Board, a body that advises rulers on granting clemency, halved his sentence and sharply reduced his fine in 2024.
Najib set up the 1MDB development fund shortly after taking office in 2009. He chaired the fund’s advisory board and held veto power as finance minister while serving as prime minister.
Billions looted
Between 2009 and 2014, top executives and associates of Najib looted over $4.5 billion from the fund, laundering it through countries including the US, Singapore and Switzerland, according to the US Justice Department.
Authorities alleged the funds were used to finance Hollywood films and extravagant purchases, including hotels, a luxury yacht, art and jewelry.
Jeff Sessions, the US attorney general at the time, called it “kleptocracy at its worst.”
The scandal also hit Wall Street, with Goldman Sachs facing billions in fines for its role in raising money for 1MDB.
The scion of a prominent political family, Najib was long seen as untouchable until public anger over 1MDB led to the 2018 election defeat of his ruling party, which had governed Malaysia since the country gained independence from Britain in 1957.
House arrest bid
Earlier this week, he failed in his bid to serve his graft sentence under house arrest.
Malaysia’s High Court ruled Monday that a rare royal order for home arrest issued by the nation’s former king was invalid because it was not made in accordance with constitutional requirements. Najib’s lawyer has said they plan to appeal.
Originally due for release in August 2028 after his sentence reduction, Najib now faces a longer stretch behind bars.
In 2022, his wife, Rosmah Mansor, was also sentenced to 10 years in prison and a massive fine in a separate graft case. She was subsequently released on bail pending an appeal.
