Malaysia's former Prime Minister Najib Razak (Photo: theonlinecitizen)Hanoi (VNA) - The Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission(MACC) said on September 19 that former Prime Minister Najib Razak has beenarrested for new corruption charges related to the state fund 1MalaysiaDevelopment Berhad (1MDB).
Najib, 65, was arrested on July 3 for corruption-related charges overhis involvement in the multi-billion-dollar 1MBD scandal. He was later releasedon bail.
He was charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust in hisformer posts as a prime minister and minister of finance, in association withthe transfer of 42 million ringgit, or 10 million USD, from SRC InternationalSdn Bhd to his personal bank accounts between August 2011 and March 2015. Healso faced one count of corruption.
Najib was later charged with three other counts of money laundering,bringing the total number of counts he has been prosecuted to seven. He haspleaded not guilty to the charges.
Najib founded the 1MDB investment fund in 2009, supposedly to serveMalaysia’s development through global partnerships and foreign directinvestment.
However, it became the centre of a money laundering scandal, allegedlycausing losses of up to 3.7 billion USD and leading to probes into thefinancial markets in several countries such as the US, Switzerland, Singapore,Malaysia and China.
From the raids on several of Najib’s properties in Kuala Lumpur, policeseized valuables worth up to 273 million USD.
Najib will goon trial on February 12, 2019. The trial will run from February 12 to March 29,2019. If convicted, he will face multi-year prison sentences.-VNA
VNA
