Wu Ailing
Associated Press
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) – The Supreme Court unanimously upheld his conviction and 12-year sentence for former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Aug. 22 in a corruption case related to the robbery of the 1MDB state fund. imprisonment.
The loss means Najib will have to start serving his sentence immediately, becoming the first former prime minister to be jailed. He left the courthouse after the verdict and was reportedly put in jail.
The five-member Federal Court panel said it believed the High Court judge’s decision was correct and that Najib’s appeal had “no basis whatsoever”.
“This is a plain and simple case of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering,” said Chief Justice Maimon Tuanma, who read the judgment.
“We cannot conclude that any findings of the High Court, as affirmed by the Court of Appeal, are unjustified or manifestly wrong and therefore require appellate intervention. We agree that the defence is inherently inconsistent and unbelievable to As for it would not raise a reasonable doubt for the prosecution,” she said.
The court ordered Najib to start his prison career. He must also pay a $47 million fine.
1MDB is a development fund set up by Najib shortly after he took power in 2009. Investigators say at least $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib’s associates. Najib was convicted in 2020 of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering for illegally receiving $9.4 million from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.
Najib, 69, has maintained his innocence and has been released on bail pending an appeal. Just before the court’s decision, he rose from the dock to issue a statement protesting a series of Supreme Court refusals to postpone appeal hearings.
Najib said he felt he had been treated “unfairly” and that his case had been rushed. He noted that the leaked judgment from the federal court had been posted on a website, and said if true, it would be “the highest level of judicial misconduct.”
But Maimon said the appeal hearing was over as Najib’s newly appointed lawyers refused to make any new arguments in protest that there was no more time to prepare.
After the verdict was read, Najib was shocked. He was immediately surrounded by family and supporters.
“This is a historic moment for Malaysia, where the supreme leader is now actually facing an unprecedented moment of political responsibility,” said Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert at the University of Nottingham Malaysia. Many of the cases involving this scandal have moved towards this particular It is indeed a testament to the rule of law in Malaysia, and it is also a strengthening of the requirements for the rule of law in Malaysia. “
Earlier on August 23, Najib tried to remove Maimun from the case, citing possible bias, after her husband made negative Facebook posts about Najib’s leadership shortly after he was ousted in the 2018 election. But the judge rejected Najib’s application.
The federal court also rejected Najib’s bid to seek a retrial, citing the bias of the high court judge, and refused to delay the appeal to give his new lawyer more time to prepare. The court also rejected a request by Najib’s new lawyer to drop out of the case.
Maimun, Malaysia’s first female chief justice appointed in 2019, was attacked on social media by Najib’s supporters. Over the weekend, police arrested a man suspected of making death threats against Maimun. Hundreds of Najib’s supporters gathered outside the courtroom to show their support.
The sentence will cement Najib’s fall from grace. British-educated Najib was born into Malaysia’s political elite. His father was the country’s second prime minister and his uncle was the third.
He plunged into politics after his father’s death in 1976, becoming Malaysia’s youngest lawmaker at 22 and the youngest-ever deputy minister two years later. He became prime minister as a reformer in 2009, but his tenure was tarnished by the 1MDB scandal that sparked investigations in the US and several other countries and led to the collapse of his government.
Najib faces a total of 42 charges in five separate trials related to 1MDB, and his wife is also on trial on corruption charges.
Najib, who has a strong social media following, remains politically influential. His United Malays group leads the current government after the defection of lawmakers led to the collapse of the reformist government that won the 2018 polls.
