During the first day of trial on April 3, Najib faced sevencharges including abuse of power, corruption and money laundering.
According to prosecutors, the former PM and his cronies stolebillions of US dollars from 1MDB and spent it on everything from high-end realestate to artworks and a luxury yacht.
Since the general election 2018 that led to the victory of PrimeMinister Mahathir Mohamad, Najib has been charged with 48 counts, mostlyinvolving the 1MDB fund and other State institutions. However, he rejected allconvictions regarding 1MDB, saying that they are politically motivated.
1MDB was founded by Nazib in 2009 to promote Malaysia’ssocio-economic development via global partnerships and foreign directinvestment.
According to the US Department of Justice, which isinvestigating the 1MDB controversy, the total money looted from the fund could amountto 4.5 billion USD.-VNA