Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been convicted on 25 additional counts of abuse of power and money laundering in his second major trial involving the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund scandal.
On Friday, a judge in Malaysia’s administrative capital found the 72-year-old former leader guilty of misappropriating nearly 2.3 billion Malaysian ringgit ($569 million). The court rejected Najib’s defense that the funds were a donation from the late Saudi King Abdullah.
The Charges against him 4 counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering. This follows a seven-year proceeding involving 76 witnesses. Najib is already serving a halved six-year sentence for a previous conviction related to SRC International.
This conviction marks the second setback for Najib this week. On Monday, the court dismissed his application to serve the remainder of his current prison sentence under house arrest. Despite being imprisoned since 2022, Najib maintains a loyal following, dozens of whom gathered outside the court to protest the ruling.
The 1MDB scandal—estimated at a total loss of $4.5 billion—has reshaped Malaysian politics, ending the 60-year rule of the Barisan Nasional coalition in 2018.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has urged all political factions to respect the judiciary's independence.
While critics view the verdict as a victory against "grand corruption," transparency advocates warn that institutional reforms are still needed to prevent similar scandals in the future.
Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, also remains under legal scrutiny, currently out on bail while appealing a 10-year bribery sentence.
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