A Malaysia court has convicted former prime minister Najib Razak for abuse of power and money laundering, in his second major trial for a multi-billion-dollar state funds scandal.<\/p>\n
Najib, 72, was accused of misappropriating nearly 2.3 billion Malaysian ringgit ($569m; \u00a3422m) from the nation’s sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).<\/p>\n
On Friday afternoon a judge found him guilty in four charges of abuse of power and 21 charges of money laundering. His sentence is still pending.<\/p>\n
The former PM is already in jail after he was convicted years ago in another case related to 1MDB.<\/p>\n
Friday’s verdict comes after seven years of legal proceedings, which saw 76 witnesses called to the stand.<\/p>\n
The verdict, delivered in Malaysia’s administrative capital Putrajaya, is the second blow in the same week to the embattled former leader, who has been imprisoned since 2022.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the court rejected his application to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest. <\/p>\n
But the former prime minister retains a loyal base of supporters, who claim that he’s a victim of unfair rulings and who have showed up at his trials calling for his release.<\/p>\n
On Friday, dozens of people gathered outside the court in Putrajaya in support of Najib.<\/p>\n
The 1MDB scandal made headlines across the world when it came to light a decade ago, embroiling prominent figures from Malaysia to Goldman Sachs and Hollywood.<\/p>\n
Investigators estimated that $4.5bn was siphoned from the state-owned wealth fund into private pockets, including Najib’s.<\/p>\n
Najib’s lawyers claim that he had been misled by his advisers – in particular the financier Jho Low, who has maintained his innocence but remains at large.<\/p>\n
But the argument has not convinced Malaysia’s courts, which previously found Najib guilty of embezzlement in 2020.<\/a><\/p>\n That year, Najib was convicted of abuse of power, money laundering and breach of trust over 42 million ringgit ($10m; \u00a37.7m) transferred from SRC International – a former unit of 1MDB – into his private accounts.<\/p>\n He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but saw his jail term halved last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n The latest case concerns a larger sum of money, also tied to 1MDB, received by his personal bank account in 2013. Najib said he had believed the money was a donation from the late Saudi King Abdullah – a claim rejected by the judge on Friday.<\/p>\n