Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak found guilty of embezzlement
Jul 28, 2020
Kuala Lumpur [Malaysia], July 28 : Former Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was found guilty on Tuesday of charges related to misappropriation of 42 million Malaysian Ringgit (RM) from at the state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad(1MDB).
The Malaysian high court Judge Mohd Ghazali, who read the detailed judgment, said that the defence had failed to establish any doubts against the prosecution's case, New Straits Times reported.
Among other things, he ruled that Najib's defensive stance of blaming fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho was not valid.
Najib, 67, was reportedly calm upon hearing the verdict.
The former Prime Minister is accused of committing three counts of criminal breach of trust, which resulted in the swindling of RM42 million from the former 1MDB unit SRC International. He was entrusted with control over the fund as the prime minister.
He also faced a separate charge of abusing the same positions for self-gratification of the same sum.
Najib was found guilty on all seven charges of abuse of power, breach of trust and money laundering, but experts said the verdict could be overturned on appeal, the New York Times said.
