Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (Source: VNA)Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – The Sessions Court of Kuala Lumpur decided onJanuary 4 that a joint trial will be held for both former Malaysian PrimeMinister Najib Razak and former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) CEO Arul KandaKandasamy for allegedly tampering a 1MDB audit report.
The decision was madefollowing the prosecution's request. The trial is forecast to take place inearly March.
Najib was accused ofusing his position as prime minister to order the then Auditor-General toremove certain matters from the report before submitting it to the NationalAudit Department.
Meanwhile, Arul Kandaallegedly abetted Najib in using the latter’s position as then prime minister toorder the amendment to the report.
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 todo consulting work for the 1MDB, was accused of money laundering relating tothe fund by both Malaysia and the US.
Najib faced 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 throughglobal partnerships and foreign direct investment.
However, it became thecentre of a money laundering scandal, allegedly causing losses of up to 3.7billion USD and leading to probes into the financial markets in severalcountries such as the US, Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysia and 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
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