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Associated Press

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak’s trial on corruption charges related to a massive financial scandal that led to his shock election defeat will start in February, a court said on Friday.
Najib, 65, will stand trial for criminal breach of trust, money laundering and power abuse linked to billions of dollars allegedly looted from sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
The former leader, who is free on bail, has been hit with seven charges so far, including three for money laundering lodged on Wednesday over claims he pocketed 42 million ringgit (US$10.3 million) from a former unit of 1MDB.
These are in addition to the charges he faced last month after he was first arrested – three for criminal breach of trust and a separate count that he abused his position to take the money.
Najib charged with money laundering as 1MDB case deepens
Najib has denied all the charges.
Malaysia’s new government, under Najib’s 93-year-old former mentor Mahathir Mohamad, is probing the corruption allegations involving 1MDB – which was set up and overseen by Najib – in an audacious fraud that spanned the globe.
High Court Judge Mohamad Nazlan Mohamad Ghazali set the trial dates from February 12-28 and from March 4-29.
I am confident of a fair trial for my client, but my client thinks this is a political prosecution
Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Najib’s lawyer
State prosecutors said they expect to call around 50 witnesses.
Najib is facing a long time behind bars if found guilty – the money-laundering charges carry maximum jail terms of 15 years each, while the other four charges carry sentences of 20 years each.
The money-laundering charges allege 42 million ringgit stemming from illegal activities was transferred to Najib’s bank accounts between December 2014 and February 2015.
All the charges relate to fund transfers from SRC International, an energy company that was originally a subsidiary of 1MDB.
The sums involved are just a fraction of the US$681 million that was mysteriously transferred to Najib’s personal bank accounts several years ago, sparking uproar in Malaysia.


Najib, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing, and his allies are accused of using the plundered money to buy everything from US real estate to artworks and a luxury yacht that was recently handed over to Malaysia.
Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said on Wednesday that the toppled leader believed the case was driven by politics.
“I am confident of a fair trial for my client, but my client thinks this is a political prosecution,” Muhammad Shafee told reporters.
The US Department of Justice, which is seeking to recover items allegedly bought with stolen 1MDB cash in America, estimates that US$4.5 billion in total was looted from the fund.
Following Najib’s election loss in May, police seized a vast trove of items – including expensive handbags and jewellery – from properties linked to him with an estimated value of up to US$273 million.


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Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will go on trial in February, facing charges of financial corruption

Malaysia’s former prime minister Najib Razak. Photo: Reuters

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Khairy Jamaluddin. Photo: Nora Tam

United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, 42, poses against an array of portraits of the Party's predecessors, among them were Tun Hussein Onn (L1 in background) and Tun Abdul Razak (L2 in background) who had served as Prime Ministers of Malaysia. Photo taken in his office at UMNO building in Putra World Trade Centre, Malaysia. 01JUN18 SCMP / Nora Tam

(180524) -- PUTRAJAYA, May 24, 2018 (Xinhua) -- Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (C) leaves Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters in Putrajaya, Malaysia, May 24, 2018. Investigators questioned former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak for more than six hours at the headquarters of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on Thursday and let him go home as the probe related to the state development fund 1MDB continues. (Xinhua/Chong Voon Chung) (lrz)

Vote loser: the 1MDB scandal. Photo: EPA

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Malaysia's Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng arrives for a news conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia May 24, 2018. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak leaves the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission office. Photo: AP

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FILE PHOTO: A man walks past a 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) billboard at the funds flagship Tun Razak Exchange development in Kuala Lumpur, in this March 1, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Olivia Harris/File Photo

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak attends a press conference to announce his resignation as president of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the main component party of the defeated Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, in Kuala Lumpur on May 12, 2018. Malaysia's defeated leader Najib Razak on May 12 announced he was quitting as head of the Barisan Nasional coalition and its main party after leading the coalition to a shock loss. / AFP PHOTO / ROSLAN RAHMAN

New Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad walks by a board displaying his photos after a news conference at the Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Monday, May 14, 2018. Mahathir says the attorney general has been told to go on leave pending an investigation of his role in allegedly covering up a massive corruption scandal involving ousted leader Najib Razak. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

A man walks towards the residence of former Prime Minister Najib Razak in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Monday, May 14, 2018. Only three days after 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad secured a shocking election win, he barred Najib from leaving Malaysia and said he'd reopen a graft probe targeting state-owned investment fund 1MDB. Photographer: Sanjit Das/Bloomberg

Police officers place caution tape outside the residence of Najib Razak, Malaysia's former prime minister, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Thursday, May 17, 2018. Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he wouldn't cut a deal with Najib if any wrongdoing was found in a corruption probe into state fund 1MDB. Najib has repeatedly denied wrongdoing after 2015 revelations that around $700 million -- alleged to be 1MDB funds -- appeared in his personal accounts before the prior election in 2013. Photographer: Sanjit Das/Bloomberg

Malaysian police enter the home of former Prime Minister Najib Razak in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

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Najib is facing a long time behind bars if found guilty – the money-laundering charges carry maximum jail terms of 15 years each, while the other four charges carry sentences of 20 years each


Malaysia 1MDB scandal

Corruption in Asia