1MDB scandal –
Malaysian court drops case against ex-PM
The court justifies its decision by the fact that important documents, essential to the preparation of the defense, were not revealed.
Published today at 10:09 a.m.
The case linked to the Emirati state fund is one of five in which the former head of the Malaysian government Najib Razak is being prosecuted.
AFP
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A Malaysian court on Wednesday dropped corruption charges against former Prime Minister Najib Razak in part of the affair linked to the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, his lawyer announced.
“The court correctly exercised its jurisdiction to free our client from charges” of corruption in the case of 6.6 billion ringgit (1.41 billion euros) paid to Abu’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) fund Dhabi, explained Mr. Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee.
“Today’s decision (editor’s note: Wednesday) “is based on the fact that important documents have not been revealed, six years after the first reading of the accusations, which are essential to the preparation of our client’s defense,” he added.
The case linked to the Emirati state fund is one of five in which the former head of the Malaysian government Najib Razak (2009-2018) is being prosecuted.
More than 4.5 billion dollars embezzled
In October, the latter issued a public apology for the huge financial misappropriation linked to the Malaysian state fund 1MDB during his time in power, but also claimed that he had no knowledge of the transfers illegal funds coming from the fund.
The scandal surrounding the 1MDB fund, supposed to contribute to Malaysia’s economic development, resulted in the opening of investigations in several countries, including the United States, Switzerland and Singapore.
According to American justice, more than 4.5 billion dollars were embezzled between 2009 and 2015, in a fraud with global ramifications.
In Malaysia, it cost Najib Razak’s victory in the 2018 elections and led to his sentence in 2022 to 12 years in prison, reduced last February to six years. The former prime minister began serving his sentence in August.
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