A Malaysian court yesterday (26) sentenced former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to another 15 years in prison and a fine of $2.8 billion on money laundering charges, foreign media reported.
Najib Razak, who is accused of the largest financial fraud ever committed in Malaysia, has been serving a prison sentence since 2022.
The new sentence is significant given that the prison sentence is due to end in 2028.
However, Najib’s lawyer has said that he will appeal the verdict to the court on Monday.
The main charge against Najib, who is now 72 years old, is that more than $1 billion has been received in his accounts.
He is also said to have stolen at least $4.5 billion from the country’s state fund ‘1Malaysia Development Berthed’.
Accordingly, the judge, announcing the verdict of the five-hour trial yesterday, found Najib guilty of 21 charges of money laundering.
In addition to the prison sentence, he was also ordered to pay a fine of 11.39 billion ringgit ($2.82 billion). He was also ordered to confiscate assets worth 2.08 billion ringgit.
The relevant court order also states that if he fails to comply with both of these measures, he will face additional prison sentences.
Najeem and his associates are alleged to have used the money they obtained fraudulently to buy a private jet, luxury properties, hotels, artwork and jewellery, superyachts and even used it to finance a Hollywood film in 2013.
Kuala Lumpur–Cyber ​​World Press