Malaysia’s former prime minister Najib Razak was sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay a staggering $2.8 billion fine for his role in the 1MDB scandal.
Malaysia’s former prime minister Najib Razak was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay a staggering $2.8 billion fine after he was convicted of money laundering in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal.
The nation’s High Court found Najib, 72, guilty on four counts of abuse of power and 21 charges of money laundering related to more than $700 million channeled into his personal bank accounts from the 1MDB fund.
The sentencing capped a years-long legal saga stemming from the looting of the state investment fund, which investigators say was used to siphon billions of dollars for lavish spending and political largesse.
Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah said it was evident that Najib was directly tied to Jho Low, the fugitive financier believed to be at the center of the 1MDB scandal.
