PUTRAJAYA: Former prime minister Najib Razak faces judgment on Friday for his alleged involvement in Malaysia’s 1MDB mega-graft scandal, with a guilty verdict likely to add years to a sentence already being served.
The 72-year-old stands accused of four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering linked to the plunder of hundreds of millions of dollars from the Southeast Asian nation’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, sparking probes in several countries.
If found guilty, the man once seen as political royalty faces years more behind bars, already serving a six-year jail term after a conviction in a separate case relating to the 1MDB fund.
Friday’s hearing opened around 9:00 am (0100 GMT) before the Kuala Lumpur High Court, sitting in the country’s administrative capital of Putrajaya.
Presiding judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah started reading a lengthy verdict, before breaking for Friday afternoon prayers three hours later, with the hearing to resume at 3:00 pm.
