Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (centre). (Photo: AFP/VNA)Hanoi (VNA) –Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was taken to court on December 12 to facecharges that he tampered with the final audit report into the scandal-hit stateinvestment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Najib was accused of usinghis position as prime minister to order the then Auditor-General to remove certainmatters from the report.
It is the latest in a stringof charges against him in relation to the scandal.
Taken to the court this timetogether with the Malaysian former PM was former 1MDB president Arul KandaKandasamy who faces same charges.
Two days ago, Najib wasarrested by the MACC, minutes after he arrived at the MACC headquarters for afresh round of questioning over 1MDB-related issues. He was then freed on abail.
On November 25,Auditor-General Tan Sri Madinah Mohamad revealed that the final audit report on1MDB had been tampered with and the matters dropped from the report were on thepresence of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, at a 1MDBboard meeting.
Jho Low, who used to do consulting work for the 1MDB, has been accused of moneylaundering relating to the fund by both Malaysia and the US.
Najib has now been hit with atotal of 38 charges of corruption, money laundering and breach of trust sincelosing power, most of them related to the 1MDB.
Najib founded the 1MDBinvestment fund in 2009, supposedly to serve Malaysia’s development through globalpartnerships and foreign direct investment.
However, it became the centre of a money laundering scandal, allegedly causinglosses of up to 3.7 billion USD and leading to probes into the financialmarkets in several countries such as the US, Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysiaand China.
After assuming power,Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad declared to give priority to addressingcorruption and taking back losses of the fund. The Malaysian government has setup a task force to look into the scandal with help from the US, Switzerland,Singapore, Canada and other countries.-VNA
VNA
