Malaysia’s ex-PM Najib and the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal
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Malaysia’s ex-PM Najib is currently awaiting sentencing.
PHOTO: AFP
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KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s High Court found former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak guilty of abuse of power and money laundering
The following are details of the sprawling scandal and cases brought against him:
What is 1MDB?
Sovereign fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was set up in 2009 with the help of Malaysian financier Jho Low to promote economic development. Najib, who was prime minister from 2009 to 2018, co-founded 1MDB and chaired its advisory board until 2016.
How did billions go missing?
The fund raised billions of dollars in bonds for use in investment projects and joint ventures between 2009 and 2013.
Conducting its largest-ever kleptocracy investigation, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) said US$4.5 billion (S$5.7 billion) was diverted to offshore bank accounts and shell companies, many linked to Low. The Malaysian authorities say billions more remain unaccounted for.
The siphoned funds were used to buy luxury assets and real estate for Low and his associates, including a private jet, a superyacht, hotels and jewellery, and to finance the 2013 Hollywood film The Wolf Of Wall Street, US lawsuits have said.
Low, a fugitive, has been charged in Malaysia and the United States over his central role in the case.
He denies wrongdoing and his whereabouts remain unknown. Malaysia has said he is in China, but Beijing denies it. Najib was not named by the DoJ, but was alluded to in the investigation as “Malaysian Official 1”, according to Malaysian and US sources.
What are the cases against Najib?
Malaysian authorities say Najib illegally received more than US$1 billion traceable to 1MDB, and according to US lawsuits, allege that some of these funds were used to buy jewellery.
The US lawsuits, which did not name Najib, stated that this individual received US$681 million shortly before Malaysia’s 2013 election. Public anger over the scandal contributed to Najib’s defeat in the 2018 election
In 2019, he was charged in Malaysia with four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering. He was found guilty on Dec 26 and is awaiting sentencing.
Najib has faced other 1MDB-related trials. In July 2020, he was sentenced in Malaysia to 12 years in prison
The verdict was upheld by an appellate court in 2021 and in August 2022, Najib began serving his sentence
In a separate trial over the tampering of the 1MDB audit report, Malaysia’s High Court acquitted Najib and 1MDB’s former CEO, Arul Kanda
In another case, Najib and former treasury secretary Irwan Serigar Abdullah faced charges for allegedly misappropriating billions in government funds meant for payments to Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company.
In November 2024, Malaysia’s High Court granted them a discharge not amounting to acquittal
How did the authorities investigate 1MDB?
At least six countries, including the United States, Singapore and Switzerland, launched financial mismanagement and criminal investigations in a global probe that has implicated financial institutions and high-ranking officials worldwide.
In 2020, US firm Goldman Sachs agreed to pay US$3.9 billion
Former Goldman Sachs bankers Roger Ng and Tim Leissner were convicted in the US
The Malaysian government has so far recovered RM31.2 billion related to the 1MDB scandal as at September 2025. REUTERS
