Malaysian CEO Nazrin Hassan died last June. Now his wife and teenage stepsons have been charged with his murder
- It was initially thought he was killed after his mobile phone exploded and started a fire
- But the fire and rescue department later found traces of petrol at the scene, and his death was reclassified as murder
The widow and teenage stepsons of a Malaysian CEO who died last year were charged on Monday with his murder, in a twist to a case that has captivated the country.
Nazrin Hassan was the chief executive of Cradle Fund, a government-owned venture capital firm that provides seed money to tech startups.
He was found dead in his bedroom last June with burn marks on his body, in an incident that was initially blamed on a fire that started after his mobile phone exploded.
But the fire and rescue department later found traces of petrol at the scene at his home in Kuala Lumpur, and his death was reclassified as murder.
Despite the objection of his wife, Samirah Muzaffar, his body was exhumed for a second autopsy that led to Monday’s shocking indictment of Samirah and her two sons from her first marriage.
The boys, aged 13 and 16, cannot be identified because they are minors.
The trio were arrested in the early hours of Monday, and later brought to a magistrates court outside the capital, where a huge scrum of journalists was waiting.
A fourth person, an Indonesian woman reported to be the family’s maid, was also charged in absentia with murder.
The two women face the death sentence if convicted, but minors may escape the gallows.
A murder conviction carries a mandatory death penalty in Malaysia. The government that took power last year has pledged to abolish capital punishment for all crimes, but parliament still has to vote on amending the law.
Cradle Fund was set up in 2003 and has invested in hundreds of tech start-ups, including the forerunner of Southeast Asia’s dominant ride-hailing app, Grab.
