Najib 1MDB trial: Malaysia’s former PM sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined US$49 million, crushing comeback hopes
- ‘This is definitely not the end of the world,’ Najib said after judge granted him bail pending an appeal
- The charges related to Najib’s role in some US$4.5 billion being looted from a state investment fund and siphoned through his personal accounts
The 67-year-old politician was granted bail by Justice Mohamad Nazlan Ghazali pending appeal.
“I am very disappointed by this decision … I will continue efforts to clear my name,” Najib told reporters on Tuesday evening. “This is definitely not the end of the world, there’s a process of appeal [and] we hope that we will be successful then.”
The judge delivered the sentence after finding Najib guilty of all seven charges. Along with one charge of abuse of power, Najib was fighting three charges of money laundering and three charges of criminal breach of trust.
The case involves some 42 million ringgit (US$9.8 million) that flowed from SRC International, a subsidiary of the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state fund, to his personal accounts.
Nazlan sentenced the former prime minister to 12 years’ jail and fined him 210 million ringgit for the abuse of power charge, 10 years’ jail for each of the criminal breach of trust charges and 10 years’ jail for each of the money laundering charges. The jail terms are to run concurrently.