Ex-PM Najib Razak of Malaysia was sentenced to 15 extra years in prison in the largest trial in the 1MDB crisis

In the largest trial of the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, Malaysia’s powerful former prime minister Najib Razak was sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison and fined $2.8 billion for abusing authority and money laundering. The decision might have significant political repercussions.

Investigators from Malaysia and the United States claim that 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a state fund that Najib co-founded in 2009 during the first of his nine years in power in the Southeast Asian nation, had at least $4.5 billion stolen from it.

Allegedly, over $1 billion entered accounts associated with 72-year-old Najib, who was initially imprisoned in 2022 in a different 1MDB case and has long maintained that he has been blamed for Malaysia’s largest financial fraud.

High court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah stated that Najib’s claim that he was frequently tricked by people at 1MDB was improbable and that to accept so would “stretch the imagination into the realms of pure fantasy” during a five-hour-long verdict.

The decision may exacerbate already existing difficulties within Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ruling coalition, which includes the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a group that Najib has maintained considerable control over even while incarcerated.

On a day of reckoning for perhaps Malaysia’s most controversial leader, Najib was convicted of all 21 money laundering charges and all four counts of abuse of authority following a protracted judicial battle that included numerous appeals and a partial royal pardon.

Inconvertible, hard, and cold evidence

“The contention by the accused that the charges against him were a witch hunt and politically motivated were debunked by the cold, hard and incontrovertible evidence against him that pointed towards the accused having abused his own powerful position in 1MDB, coupled with the extensive powers conferred upon him,” the verdict by Judge Sequerah stated.

The sentences, which are to be served concurrently once Najib’s current jail term expires in 2028, were 15 years for each crime of power abuse and five years for each money laundering conviction.

According to the court, Najib must return 2.08 billion ringgit in assets and pay fines totaling 11.39 billion ringgit ($2.82 billion). It stated that failure to fulfill both would result in more time behind bars.

Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Najib’s attorney, stated he would file an appeal on Monday.

Last year, Najib expressed regret for his handling of the affair, claiming that fugitive financier Jho Low and 1MDB officials had misled him about the origin of the money in his accounts. Due to his pivotal participation in the case, Low was accused in the United States; his whereabouts are unknown, and he denies any culpability.

According to Judge Sequerah, Najib “stood at the very apex of the decision-making process” in his role as prime minister, and the evidence showed that he had a “unmistakable bond and connection” with Low, who served as his go-between and proxy in 1MDB matters.

In a statement that his attorney read, Najib pledged to keep fighting and encouraged Malaysians to maintain composure and reason.

“This struggle is not an effort to avoid responsibility,” stated the politician. “It is an endeavor to uphold justice, to uphold the integrity of the constitution, and to defend the sovereignty of the rule of law without fear or favour.”

The High Court of Malaysia will decide whether former Prime Minister Najib Razak can serve the remainder of his prison sentence in Kuala Lumpur.

CELEBRITY AND SUPERYACHT PARTIES

According to U.S. charges, the lavish-living Low and his friends used money embezzled from 1MDB to finance the 2013 Hollywood movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” and purchase a plethora of luxury assets, including a private jet, a $120 million superyacht, hotels, artwork, and jewelry.

A clever networker Low was well-known for his international contacts and for attending expensive parties with A-List American celebrities, such as singers and actors.

Najib has maintained that Low and other 1MDB executives led him to believe that money placed into his account was a donation from the Saudi royal family. During the verdict reading, Najib sat with his head down and shoulders sagged multiple times.

Najib, the son of a previous premier with a British education, was dismissed by the judge as “no country bumpkin” and “of superior intelligence.”

He called the purported gifts “implausible” and claimed that letters that Najib provided that purportedly came from the Saudi royal family were most likely fakes.

“The evidence pointed unmistakably to the fact that the monies were in fact derived from 1MDB funds,” stated Sequerah.

A RULING ALLIANCE TEST

Days earlier, a court rejected Najib’s attempt to spend his current jail term under house arrest, which had been cut in half in 2024 to six years by a pardons board presided over by the previous king of Malaysia.

Tensions within the ruling alliance were rekindled by the court’s denial of Najib’s appeal; some UMNO officials expressed sadness, while others were incensed by certain Anwar’s coalition members’ joyous social media posts.

When the 2022 election resulted in a hung parliament, Najib’s UMNO joined his coalition to create a government, despite having campaigned against Anwar. Parties were asked by Anwar on Tuesday to accept the ruling with “full patience and wisdom.”

While the United States, Switzerland, and Singapore made progress in their own 1MDB investigations, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission conducted a ten-year investigation that culminated in the verdict. According to former government officials, Najib’s administration systematically blocked this inquiry.

Azam Baki, the head commissioner of the MACC, stated that the probe has encountered numerous jurisdictional, technical, and legal obstacles.

“There is no reason to celebrate or feel proud of this choice. Instead, it shows that we have fulfilled our obligation to the country,” he stated.