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Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, suspected of embezzling millions of euros of public money from a sovereign wealth fund, was charged with corruption on Wednesday, the day after his arrest as part of a a huge financial scandal that contributed to his downfall
As the first former head of government in Southeast Asia, Mr. Najib appeared in court in the capital Kuala Lumpur. Given the seriousness of the facts, the prosecutor requested the transfer of the case to the High Court of Justice, where Mr. Najib was to speak later in the day, said an AFP journalist.
The court ordered Mr Najib on four charges: three for breach of trust and the fourth for accepting a bribe of 42 million ringgit (8.9 million euros). He faces up to 20 years in prison for each charge.
These charges are related to SRC International, which was originally an energy subsidiary of 1MDB, the sovereign wealth fund created by Mr. Najib in his arrival in power in 2009, now in debt of 10 billion euros.
This case of large-scale embezzlement largely contributed to the scathing defeat in the legislative elections in May of the former coalition that was in power for 61 years and led by Mr. Najib
By the time he was in power, Mr. Najib had attacked everything related to 1MDB, closing investigations into the scandal, dismissing critical voices of the government with regard to the case, muzzling the media and conducting arrests of persons evoking the scandal.
– International Investigations –
The 64-year-old former Prime Minister, suspected of having hijacked about the equivalent € 640 million, has always denied any wrongdoing. The 1MDB case is being investigated in several countries, including Singapore, Switzerland, and the United States.
"Najib is the first (former) prime minister to be indicted in the history of Malaysia ", said Tian Chua, vice chairman of the Keadilan Rakyat Party, a formation of the new coalition that came to power at the end of the May legislative elections.
" This marks a new era in which no one with a public mandate 'is exonerated from prosecution if he commits an abuse of power', he added.
Shortly after Mr. Najib left office, police reportedly seized hundreds of cartons containing hands of luxury filled with money and jewels, during searches in the investigation for embezzlement of the one who was Prime Minister until May 2018.
The new government from the legislative, led by the Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, 92, had announced that he wanted to recover the misappropriated funds from the public company 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
– 12,000 jewels –
In a statement released Tuesday night, relatives of Mr. Najib said that suspicions and investigations aimed the former Prime Minister were "politically motivated and the result of political vengeance" on the part of Mr. Mahathir.
Among the property confiscated during searches for Mr. Najib was a huge collection of some 12,000 jewels, including 1,400 necklaces and 2,200 rings. The most expensive jewel was a necklace valued at 6.4 million ringgits (1.3 million euros). The seizures also included 423 watches valued at 78 million ringgits (17 million euros) and 234 pairs of glbades.
The seized goods were valued up to 234 million euros by investigators. It also included 116 million ringgits (24 million euros) in cash in 26 currencies and hundreds of handbags of major brands.
Mr. Najib's wife, Rosmah Mansor, was very unpopular because of extravagant spending, including handbags and luxury clothing.
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