The dude is finally going away for a long, long time over that 1MDB mess. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak just got slammed with a 15-year prison sentence and a mind-boggling 11.4 billion ringgit fine, with a default add-on of 40 more years, after a High Court judge found him guilty on all 25 counts tied to laundering and abusing power for 2.3 billion ringgit from the state fund. The ruling from Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah stated that the defense for the 72-year-old Najib simply did not raise a reasonable doubt. Najib is already locked up in Kajang Prison for a separate conviction involving SRC International, where his sentence was later reduced to six years.
This whole saga was a marathon. It kicked off with charges back in 2018, saw countless delays from pandemic rules to quarantine dramas, and involved a failed attempt to remove the lead prosecutor, Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, who eventually passed away before the trial concluded. Najib also tried and failed to get Judge Sequerah recused over a past connection to a 1MDB lawyer. The trial dragged on for over seven years, with the defense closing its case only after calling 26 witnesses, including Najib himself, who gave a massive 678-page testimony. The final judgment this week followed rebuttal arguments from both sides that wrapped up last month.
Throughout the process, Najib made moves like publicly apologizing for the 1MDB scandal through his son and complaining about a Netflix documentary. None of it worked. The court found a prima facie case, ordered him to enter a defense, and ultimately decided that the defense did not hold up. He will now serve this new sentence on top of his existing term for the SRC case, marking a definitive end to one of the world's most infamous corruption cases.
This whole saga was a marathon. It kicked off with charges back in 2018, saw countless delays from pandemic rules to quarantine dramas, and involved a failed attempt to remove the lead prosecutor, Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, who eventually passed away before the trial concluded. Najib also tried and failed to get Judge Sequerah recused over a past connection to a 1MDB lawyer. The trial dragged on for over seven years, with the defense closing its case only after calling 26 witnesses, including Najib himself, who gave a massive 678-page testimony. The final judgment this week followed rebuttal arguments from both sides that wrapped up last month.
Throughout the process, Najib made moves like publicly apologizing for the 1MDB scandal through his son and complaining about a Netflix documentary. None of it worked. The court found a prima facie case, ordered him to enter a defense, and ultimately decided that the defense did not hold up. He will now serve this new sentence on top of his existing term for the SRC case, marking a definitive end to one of the world's most infamous corruption cases.
