Malaysia\u2019s disgraced ex-leader
\nNajib Razak pleaded not guilty to all charges against him as he went on trial
\nWednesday over a multi-billion-dollar fraud, almost a year after his shock
\nelection loss.<\/p>\n
The 65-year-old faced the first of several trials over his alleged
\ninvolvement in the looting of sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, a state investment
\nvehicle established to develop the economy of the Southeast Asian nation.<\/p>\n
The former premier and his cronies are accused of plundering billions of
\ndollars from the fund and spending it on everything from high-end real estate
\nto artworks and a luxury yacht.<\/p>\n
He had been tipped to win another term in office easily last year and
\nextend his coalition\u2019s six-decade stranglehold on power, only to be soundly
\ndefeated by his former boss, Mahathir Mohamad, who rode a wave of public
\nanger over 1MDB to the premiership.<\/p>\n
In the months that followed, once-dormant investigations into the
\ncontroversy were relaunched and Najib was hit with dozens of corruption
\ncharges linked to the plundering of the fund.<\/p>\n
A small crowd of supporters was waiting for Najib as he arrived at the
\nKuala Lumpur court ahead of his trial, and he prayed with them for a few
\nminutes before entering the building to shouts of \u201cLong Live Najib\u201d.<\/p>\n
Looking relaxed in the dock, he denied seven corruption and money-
\nlaundering charges related to the alleged theft of 42 million ringgit ($10.3
\nmillion) from SRC International, a former 1MDB unit. It is just a fraction of
\nthe hundreds of millions of dollars from 1MDB that allegedly ended up in his
\nbank accounts.<\/p>\n
Opening the prosecution, Attorney-General Tommy Thomas told the High Court
\nthat it was the \u201cfirst trial in our courts against a former prime minister,
\nwho for nearly a decade occupied the most powerful office in the land and
\nwielded near absolute power.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch privilege carries with it enormous responsibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe accused is not above the law and his prosecution and this trial
\nshould serve as precedents for all future holders of this august office,\u201d he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Time to \u2018face justice\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
The first witness \u2014 Muhamad Akmaludin Abdullah, an official from the
\nCompanies Commission of Malaysia \u2014 took the stand, and talked about records
\nof the firms linked to the trial.<\/p>\n
Najib was initially due to stand trial in February, but appeals by his
\ndefence team over procedural matters saw his case put on hold until a judge
\nlast week ruled the trial should finally proceed.<\/p>\n
It was a relief for the government, as there had been mounting public
\nanger about the delay in bringing Najib to justice.<\/p>\n
Fahmi Reza, a graphic artist who was jailed and fined for depicting Najib
\nin a caricature as a sinister clown, said it was the ex-premier\u2019s turn to
\n\u201cface justice\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, it is your turn to be dragged here to face justice for the crime
\nof corruption and abuse of power during your reign,\u201d he said in a tweet.<\/p>\n
Najib\u2019s mentor-turned-nemesis Mahathir, now 93 and in his second stint in
\noffice, has pledged to bring the younger man to justice and recoup the huge
\nsums of cash stolen from 1MDB.<\/p>\n
The US Department of Justice, which is investigating the controversy as
\nmoney was allegedly laundered through the American financial system, believes
\n$4.5 billion in total was looted from 1MDB.<\/p>\n
Malaysia has also charged Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs over the
\nscandal, alleging the bank and its former employees stole billions of dollars
\nfrom 1MDB.<\/p>\n
Goldman units and two ex-bankers are accused of misappropriating $2.7
\nbillion, bribing officials and giving false statements in relation to bond
\nissues they arranged for the fund. The bank has vowed to fight the charges.<\/p>\n
While many of Najib\u2019s suspected accomplices have been caught and charged
\nin Malaysian courts, the alleged mastermind behind the 1MDB scandal, playboy
\nfinancier Jho Low, is still at large.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday the Malaysian government said a luxury yacht allegedly bought
\nby Low with $250 million of stolen 1MDB money had been sold for around half
\nthat price. The yacht was returned to Malaysia after being seized last year
\nin Indonesia.bss<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Malaysia\u2019s disgraced ex-leader Najib Razak pleaded not guilty to all charges against him as he went on trial Wednesday over a multi-billion-dollar fraud, almost a year after his shock election loss. The 65-year-old faced the first of several trials over his alleged involvement in the looting of sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, a state investment vehicle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4","category-14"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5137"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5139,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5137\/revisions\/5139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}