Former prime minister Najib Razak has been found guilty of four charges of misappropriating funds and 21 counts of money laundering in the highly-publicised 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial.
Justice Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah delivered the verdict today at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, where he found that the defense had failed to raise reasonable doubt.
BREAKING: Judge Sequerah says Malaysian ex-PM Najib Razak convicted on first charge of abuse of power in his biggest #1MDB trial.
"I find that the accused has not rebutted the presumption of gratification under the MACC Act," he said.
He also had a blistering response to Najib’s claim that the funds were donated by the Saudi royal family.
“The Arab donation defence was incapable of belief. The accused is estopped from bringing it up again, as this was raised before a superior court where the decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal and Federal Court.
This is a tale of unbelievable and a tale surpassed from the Arabian nights and a concoction bereft of any credibility,” he said as quoted by The Edge.
Sequerah also ruled that the much-touted “Arab donation letters” were fake as the original copies weren’t produced.
Najib, who was also a former finance minister, had vehemently denied the allegations throughout the trial, arguing that the funds worth RM2.3 billion were political donations and that he was misled by those around him.
However, the court rejected Najib’s claim of being misled, with Sequerah saying that he was “no country bumpkin” in declining advice given regarding his dealings with fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low.
The verdict isn’t the last of Najib’s legal battles, with the latest being him filing an appeal after the same court ordered him to serve his six-year prison term at Kajang Prison instead of undergoing house arrest.
Read about it here:
Najib Razak To Appeal High Court Ruling After House Arrest Bid Rejected