Ex-Malaysia PM Najib Razak given 15 years in jail for power abuse, money laundering

A Malaysian court has sentenced former prime minister Najib Razak to 15 years in prison after finding him guilty of abuse of power and money laundering in a major case linked to the 1MDB financial scandal.

Najib, 72, was convicted on Friday of four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering. The charges relate to the misuse of nearly 2.3 billion Malaysian ringgit from the state-owned investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

The decision was announced by a judge in Putrajaya, Malaysia’s administrative capital, following a lengthy trial that lasted seven years and involved testimony from 76 witnesses.

This is Najib’s second conviction connected to the 1MDB case. He has already been serving a prison sentence since 2022 after being found guilty in an earlier trial related to the same scandal.

Under the latest ruling, Najib received four separate 15-year sentences for the abuse of power charges and an additional five years for each of the money laundering counts. In line with Malaysian law, all sentences will be served at the same time.

The verdict came days after a court rejected Najib’s request to complete the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.