Malaysia’s ex-PM Najib acquitted of tampering with 1MDB audit

Former chief will stay in jail the place he's serving a 12-year sentence on different prices associated to the 1MDB scandal.

Malaysia's former Prime Minister Najib Razak has been acquitted of audit tampering in reference to the 1MDB scandal [File: Ahmad Luqman Ismail/EPA]

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been acquitted of audit tampering in reference to the 1MDB scandal however will stay in jail the place he's serving a 12-year sentence on different prices.

Malaysia’s Excessive Court docket dominated that prosecutors did not show that Najib, who led Malaysia between 2009 and 2018, interfered with an official audit report concerning the scandal-plagued sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.

Najib had been accused of utilizing his place to order modifications to the report on 1MDB earlier than it was introduced to a parliamentary committee accountable for overseeing state funds.

Former 1MDB chief Arul Kanda Kandasamy was additionally cleared of abetting Najib in tampering with the report.

“The primary accused [Arul Kanda] is discharged and acquitted from the cost. The second accused [Najib] is discharged and acquitted towards the cost made towards him,” Decide Mohamed Zaini Mazlan stated.

Najib started a 12-year jail sentence in August 2022 after shedding his ultimate enchantment in a corruption case linked to the theft of billions of dollars from 1MDB.

Najib, the British-educated son of his nation’s second prime minister, was discovered responsible in July 2020 of felony breach of belief, abuse of energy and cash laundering for illegally receiving about $10m from SRC Worldwide, a former unit of 1MDB.

The 70-year-old former chief’s acquittal on the tampering cost on Friday doesn't have an effect on his present sentence.

Najib, who turned the primary former chief in Malaysia’s historical past to go to jail, nonetheless faces a number of prices associated to the scandal, which has additionally sparked investigations within the US, Switzerland and Singapore.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who was elected in November, has pledged to revive Malaysia’s picture and root out corruption within the wake of the scandal, together with by launching a overview of initiatives overseen by the earlier administration.