Malaysia’s High Court on Friday sentenced former Prime Minister Najib Razak to 15 years in prison after finding him guilty of abuse of power and money laundering tied to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, deepening the legal reckoning over a case that has reshaped the country’s politics and reputation. Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah said the sentences “are to run concurrently,” and ordered fines and asset seizures.
Najib’s lawyers said they will appeal the ruling next week. The verdict adds to a cascade of criminal cases stemming from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, the state investment fund Najib co-founded in 2009. Malaysian and U.S. investigators say at least $4.5 billion was siphoned from 1MDB, with more than $1 billion allegedly landing in accounts linked to the then-prime minister—allegations Najib has long denied.
- Advertisement -
In a forceful judgment, Sequerah rejected Najib’s arguments that the prosecution was a “witch hunt” driven by politics, saying such claims were “debunked by the cold, hard and incontrovertible evidence” that he abused his position and the extensive powers conferred on him. The judge found the defense’s narrative that Najib had been misled about the source of funds to be unsupported by the record.
Central to Najib’s defense has been the assertion that the money he received was a donation from Saudi royalty. Sequerah dismissed that claim as “implausible,” saying letters produced as proof were not corroborated and were likely forgeries. “The irresistible conclusion is that the Arab donation narrative is not meritorious,” he said, adding the evidence pointed “unmistakably” to funds derived from 1MDB.
The court also detailed Najib’s relationship with Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, the fugitive financier alleged to be the architect of the scheme. Sequerah said the men had an “unmistakable bond and connection,” with Low acting as Najib’s “proxy and intermediary” on 1MDB matters. Low, who has been charged in the United States, denies wrongdoing and remains at large with his whereabouts unknown.
Najib has been in prison since August 2022 after Malaysia’s top court upheld a separate verdict convicting him of corruption for illegally receiving funds from a 1MDB unit. In that case, he was sentenced to 12 years, a term that was halved last year by a pardons board. Friday’s decision marks a new legal blow as he faces multiple prosecutions related to the 1MDB saga.
The ruling reverberates through Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s governing coalition, which includes the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the once-dominant party Najib led and where he still retains significant influence. Tensions flared this week after a separate court denied Najib’s bid to serve his sentence under house arrest, angering some UMNO leaders and exposing fault lines within the alliance.
UMNO campaigned against Anwar in the 2022 general election but joined his coalition to break a hung parliament. Friday’s verdict is likely to test that uneasy partnership, with some UMNO figures expressing frustration over Najib’s legal defeats and others bristling at celebratory posts from members of Anwar’s camp after the house arrest bid failed.
Najib last year apologized for mishandling 1MDB while in office but maintains he was deceived by subordinates and Low. With an appeal promised and parallel cases still in motion, the legal and political fallout from one of the world’s largest financial scandals continues to shadow Malaysia’s institutions, markets and coalition politics.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
