Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has been found guilty of abuse of power in the latest trial linked to the multibillion-dollar 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal.
Najib, who has been in prison since August 2022, was convicted in what is considered the biggest case connected to the state fund.
Najib was charged with four counts of corruption and 21 counts of money laundering for allegedly receiving about 2.2 billion ringgit, or $544.15 million, in illegal transfers linked to 1MDB.
He has consistently denied all wrongdoing.
Malaysian and United States investigators have said that at least $4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB, a state investment fund co-founded by Najib in 2009 during his time in office. Authorities allege that more than $1 billion of those funds flowed into accounts linked to him. Najib has denied benefiting from the money.
The former prime minister, now 72, has been in jail since August 2022 after Malaysia’s top court upheld his conviction for illegally receiving funds from a unit of 1MDB. He was originally sentenced to 12 years in prison, but the term was reduced by half last year following a decision by a pardons board.
Najib has repeatedly maintained that he was misled by officials from 1MDB and by fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low. Low, who is wanted by authorities and whose whereabouts remain unknown, has been charged in the United States for his alleged central role in the scandal and has denied any wrongdoing.