Malaysian court crushes disgraced Najib Razak’s hopes of reprieve

The bombshell judgment comes just days after jailed former PM Najib Razak issued a public apology over Malaysia’s biggest corruption scandal.

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak arrives at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

Malaysia’s jailed former prime minister Najib Razak will face trial on 25 additional charges related to the multi-billion-dollar looting of the country’s 1MDB development fund after a court ruled on Wednesday that the disgraced politician had a clear case to answer.

The bombshell judgment appears to crush, at least for now, Najib’s hopes of securing house arrest two years into an original 12-year sentence for corruption that was halved by the country’s pardons board in February.

Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah ruled that the former prime minister had not been “misled” over the transfer of $800m into his personal accounts from 1MDB funds in 2013 and must mount a defence on 21 money-laundering charges and four counts of abuse of power.

The patrician politician, the son and nephew of two former Malaysian prime ministers, faces an additional 20 years in prison if convicted.

Najib, 71, issued a public apology last week to all Malaysians over the misappropriation of $US4.5bn from the 1MDB fund during his tenure as prime minister and finance minister, insisting he did not realise the money sent to his bank accounts came from state development funds.

“I am still in deep shock, knowing now the extent of the wretched and unconscionable shenanigans and illegal things that happened in 1MDB. I deeply regret what has taken place,” he said in a statement read out by his son Nizar.

The apology was quickly welcomed by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, fuelling furious speculation that the government was paving the way for some sort of reprieve for Najib, whose United Malays National Organisation Mr Anwar relies on to stay in power.

Malaysian constitutional lawyer N. Surendran, a previous vice-president of Mr Anwar’s People’s Justice Party, said the court decision was not unexpected given the strength of evidence against Najib.

“But in Malaysia now it’s not so much what happens in the court that matters. The court … may well add years of prison on to Najib’s current sentence, but will he ever have to serve those years?” he told The Australian.

“That’s the concern of many Malaysians because the government seems to be poised at any time to pardon him, reduce his sentence, let him off scot-free or send him to home detention.”

The Anwar government claims a decision by the pardons board to halve Najib’s 12-year sentence was done at the behest of the country’s former king, a position rotated every five years among Malaysia’s royal families.

But legal experts say that’s nonsense given the king must accept the decision of the pardons board, which is made up of government representatives and officials from the Attorney-General’s office.

Government critics fear Mr Anwar’s announcement this month that his administration was considering a home detention law to address overcrowding in Malaysian prisons may be part of a “sweetheart deal” with UMNO to free Najib.

“In the streets of Malaysia and in the coffee shops everyone believes there is a deal. Because without that deal Anwar falls from power,” Mr Surendran said.

Malaysia analyst James Chin told The Australian the reputational damage to Malaysia’s judiciary would have been considerable if it had found no case to answer in the face of “overwhelming evidence”, though there was still concern Mr Anwar could cave to UMNO pressure and grant Najib house arrest.

Najib’s lawyer Shafee Abdullah said after Wednesday’s ruling that he was disappointed in the court’s decision, which he claimed was based wholly on “hearsay evidence”.

“But we are not giving up,” Mr Shafee said. “We are going to fight this case and we are more determined because of the decision today.”

Najib was acquitted last year of allegations he tampered with an audit on the scandal-ridden sovereign wealth fund in 2016, but he faces a further two 1MDB-linked criminal cases.