By Rozanna Latiff
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s Federal Court on Tuesday upheld former prime minister Najib Razak’s guilty conviction and a 12-year jail sentence on charges related to a multi-billion dollar corruption scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Knocking back Najib’s final appeal, the country’s top court also denied his request for a stay of sentence.
Najib, 69, was found guilty in July 2020 of criminal breach of trust, abuse of power, and money laundering for illegally receiving about $10 million from SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB.
The former premier, who pleaded not guilty, was sentenced to 12 years’ jail and a 210 million ringgit ($46.84 million) fine.
Prosecutors have said some $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB – co-founded by Najib during his first year as prime minister in 2009. Investigators say they had traced more than $1 billion of 1MDB money to accounts linked to Najib.
The wide-ranging scandal has implicated officials and financial institutions around the world, and prompted the U.S. Department of Justice to open what became its biggest kleptocracy investigation.
Najib, who faces several trials over the allegations, has consistently denied wrongdoing. (This story refiles to insert missing word “year” in headline)
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; additional reporting by Zahra Matarani; Writing by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)