Imprisoned former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was convicted on Friday in another major corruption case stemming from the vast looting of Malaysia’s sovereign wealth vehicle, the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) — a scandal that has come to define one of the largest financial frauds in modern history.
Malaysia’s High Court found Najib (72) guilty on three counts of abuse of power in a trial linked to the misappropriation of billions of dollars from the fund. The court was still delivering rulings on additional charges later on Friday, underscoring the breadth of the case confronting the once-dominant political leader.
Prosecutors said Najib had siphoned more than USD 700 million into his personal bank accounts from 1MDB, abusing his authority at the highest levels of government. Najib served as prime minister from 2009 to 2018 and simultaneously held the powerful post of finance minister, giving him sweeping control over state finances and the controversial fund.
He is already behind bars, having been convicted earlier in a separate but related case tied to the 1MDB scandal — an affair that ultimately brought down his government.
In 2020, Najib was sentenced to 12 years in prison for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving 42 million ringgit (about USD 10.3 million) that flowed into his accounts from SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary. After exhausting his final appeal, he began serving that sentence in August 2022, becoming the first former Malaysian leader to be jailed.
In 2024, Malaysia’s Pardons Board — an advisory body that recommends clemency to the country’s rulers — cut Najib’s sentence in half and sharply reduced his fine, a move that reignited political controversy and public debate over elite impunity.
Najib had established 1MDB shortly after taking office in 2009, promoting it as a development fund meant to spur economic growth. He chaired its advisory board and retained veto power over major decisions, a dual role that prosecutors say allowed him to dominate the fund’s operations with little oversight.
What began as a domestic scandal quickly metastasised into a global financial and political crisis. Investigations were launched in multiple countries, including the United States, Singapore and Switzerland. According to the US Department of Justice, between 2009 and 2014, senior executives and associates linked to Najib looted more than USD 4.5 billion from the fund, laundering the proceeds through an intricate web of offshore accounts and shell companies.
Authorities alleged that the stolen money financed a lavish lifestyle: luxury real estate, a superyacht, priceless art and jewellery — and even Hollywood films. Describing the affair, then US attorney general Jeff Sessions memorably called it “kleptocracy at its worst”.
The fallout also rattled Wall Street. Investment bank Goldman Sachs eventually agreed to pay billions of dollars in fines and settlements for its role in raising funds for 1MDB, admitting to failures in oversight and compliance.
Najib, the scion of one of Malaysia’s most prominent political families, had long been regarded as politically untouchable. That perception collapsed in 2018, when public fury over 1MDB helped deliver a historic election defeat to his party, which had governed Malaysia uninterrupted since independence from Britain in 1957.
Throughout the proceedings, Najib has denied wrongdoing. He has insisted that the money deposited into his accounts was a donation from Saudi Arabia and claimed he was misled by rogue financiers led by Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low. Najib has also argued that the prosecutions were politically motivated. Low, widely described by investigators as the architect of the scheme, remains a fugitive.
Prosecutors, however, have portrayed a very different picture, arguing that Najib was the central decision-maker and ultimate beneficiary of the fraud, while Low and former 1MDB officials acted merely as “messengers” executing his instructions.
Legal setbacks have continued to mount for the former leader. Earlier this week, Najib failed in his attempt to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest. Malaysia’s High Court ruled on Monday that a rare royal order allegedly authorising home detention, issued by a former king, was invalid because it did not comply with constitutional requirements. Najib’s lawyers have said they intend to appeal the decision.
While Najib was initially due for release in August 2028 following his sentence reduction, the latest conviction raises the prospect of a significantly longer period behind bars.
The scandal has also ensnared Najib’s family. His wife Rosmah Mansor was sentenced in 2022 to 10 years in prison and a hefty fine in a separate corruption case involving the solicitation of bribes. She has been released on bail while her appeal is pending.
Together, the cases mark a dramatic fall from power for a man who once embodied Malaysia’s political establishment — and a continuing reckoning with a scandal whose repercussions are still being felt at home and abroad.
With AP/PTI inputs
