PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia — In a landmark ruling with profound political implications, Malaysia’s High Court convicted imprisoned former Prime Minister Najib Razak on Friday for corruption charges directly linked to the multibillion-dollar plundering of the 1MDB state investment fund. The 72-year-old former leader was found guilty on three counts of abuse of power, adding to his existing prison sentence from previous convictions in the same sprawling financial scandal.
The court determined that Najib had illicitly diverted over $700 million from the state fund into his personal bank accounts during his tenure as prime minister from 2009 to 2018. This latest conviction represents another chapter in one of history’s most extensive financial fraud cases, which ultimately precipitated the shocking electoral defeat of Najib’s long-ruling coalition government in 2018.
Currently incarcerated since August 2022 following the exhaustion of his final appeals, Najib made history as Malaysia’s first former prime minister to be imprisoned. Although the Pardons Board reduced his original 12-year sentence by half in 2024 and substantially lowered his financial penalty, this new conviction potentially extends his time behind bars.
The 1MDB scandal generated international shockwaves, triggering comprehensive investigations across multiple continents. According to the U.S. Justice Department, between 2009 and 2014, high-ranking executives and associates connected to Najib systematically embezzled approximately $4.5 billion from the fund. The laundered money financed extravagant acquisitions including luxury real estate, Hollywood film productions, art masterpieces, and even a superyacht—a spending spree that former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions denounced as “kleptocracy at its worst.”
Najib has consistently maintained his innocence, asserting that the funds constituted legitimate political donations from Saudi Arabian sources and blaming rogue financiers including the fugitive Low Taek Jho, alleged to be the scandal’s mastermind. Prosecutors countered that Najib served as the central architect and primary beneficiary of the elaborate scheme, with other participants merely executing his directives.
The scandal’s repercussions extended to Wall Street, where Goldman Sachs incurred billions in penalties for its involvement in raising capital for 1MDB. Meanwhile, Najib’s recent petition to complete his sentence under house arrest was rejected by the High Court, which invalidated a rare royal order from the former king on constitutional grounds. His legal team has announced plans to appeal this decision.
In a related development, Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, received a ten-year prison sentence in 2022 for separate corruption charges, though she remains free on bail pending appeal proceedings.