Malaysia drops 1MDB-linked charges vs Najib

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak —REUTERS

KUALA LUMPUR—A Malaysian court on Wednesday allowed corruption charges linked to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal filed against jailed former prime minister Najib Razak and former treasury chief Irwan Serigar Abdullah to be dropped, their lawyers said.

Najib faces several trials linked to the scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), from which Malaysian and US authorities say about $4.5 billion was stolen in a complex, globe-spanning scheme between 2009 and 2014.

Najib, who helped found 1MDB when he was premier in 2009, was found guilty of corruption and money laundering in a case linked to the scandal and sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2022.

The term was later halved by a pardon’s board chaired by Malaysia’s king.

Reuters

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers.