29 July,2020 07:27 AM IST | Kuala Lumpur | Agencies
Ex-PM Najib Razak
A Malaysian court sentenced former Prime Minister Najib Razak to serve up to 12 years in prison on Tuesday after finding him guilty of crimes involving the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund that brought down his government in a shocking election ouster two years ago.
Najib was calm and stone-faced as he became the first Malaysian leader to be convicted. He has vowed to appeal the verdict and took an oath in brief remarks from the dock before the sentencing that he was unaware of the graft.
Judge Mohamad Nazlan Ghazali sentenced Najib to 12 years in jail on one count of abuse of power, 10 years each for three counts of criminal breach of trust, and 10 years each for three counts of money laundering, as well as a fine of 210 million ringgit ($49.4 million). But he ordered the sentences to run concurrently, meaning that Najib will face up to 12 years in jail.
The judge said the sentence was "appropriate and proportionate" taking into account that Najib had committed the crime from a "position of trust" as PM , his final plea and the need to deter others from committing the same crime. The ruling in the first of his five corruption trials came five months after Najib's Malay party returned to government as the biggest bloc in an alliance that took power from the reformist government that ousted Najib's in 2018.
Analysts said the ruling would bolster the prosecution's case in Najib's other trials and would signal to the business community the Malaysia's legal system has strength in tackling international financial crimes. But others cautioned the ruling could be overturned and his political party remains in office. Najib, 67, has vowed to fight to the end. He has said he was misled by rogue bankers and the case against him is political.
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