Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (Photo: AFP/VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Former Malaysian Prime MinisterNajib Razak has been charged with three new counts of money laundering involvedin the multi-billion-dollar scandal of the state investment fund 1MalaysiaDevelopment Berhad (1MDB).
Najib, 65, was previously charged with three counts ofcriminal breach of trust and one count of abuse of power over the transfer of42 million ringgit, or 10 million USD, from SRC International, a subsidiary of1MDB to his personal bank accounts between August 2011 and March 2015 when heserved as Minister of Finance and Prime Minister. Each count carries a fine anda sentence of up to 20 years in prison. But he pleaded not guilty to all sevencharges against him.
The former PM appeared at the second hearing in KualaLumpur on August 8, looking tired. He was just summoned by the MalaysianAnti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for questioning which lasted 45 minutes a daybefore.
After the fresh charges were read out, the judge declaredto transfer his case to the High Court and continued to let him out bail forthe additional charges.
Najib founded the 1MDB investment fund in 2009,supposedly to serve Malaysia’s development through global partnerships andforeign 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.
Najib and his wife were first questioned about the42-million-ringgit transfer shortly after he was defeated in the nationalelection in May. They were later barred from leaving the country.
From the raids on several of his family’s properties in Kuala Lumpur, policeseized assets worth up to 273 million USD.
His trial is scheduled to begin in February nextyear.-VNA
VNA
