Former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s sentence to 15 years in jail and a fine of RM11.4 billion after his conviction for abuse of power and money laundering caps this year’s most memorable major events in the country.
Caption: It is impossible for him to pay the RM11.4 billion fine, the historic amount that has never been imposed by the Malaysian court on any individual before.
He has created a record of sorts for being the first head of federal government to be convicted by the court in relation to abuse of power in the 1MDB case.
That he was fined RM11.4 billion is unprecedented in the country’s legal history against an individual convicted of corruption.
On December 26, Federal Court Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah, presiding as a High Court Judge, found him guilty of four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds deposited in his personal bank account between February 2011 and December 2014.
He was sentenced to 15 years in jail for each of the four charges of abuse of power. However, the court ordered that the jail terms to run concurrently.
Najib was also sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for each of the 21 charges and ordered him to pay a recoverable sum of RM2.08 billion.
If he fails, he will serve an additional 270 months in prison.
The five-year sentences are to run concurrently with the sentence for abuse of power.
Najib’s jail sentence and fine can be overturned if he succeeds in his appeal in the Court of Appeal or possibly in the Federal Court.
If he fails in these two courts, the last venue is to seek a full pardon from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Otherwise, he will remain in prison for many years. And it is also certainly impossible for him to pay the RM11.4 billion fine.
Najib’s conviction in the 1MDB case came six days after another High Court rejected his bid to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest.
Judge Alice Loke ordered that the disgraced former prime minister will continue to serve his time in Kajang Prison.
She said that the royal addendum order was not valid as it was not deliberated on or decided at the 61st Pardons Board meeting in January last year when the board agreed to reduce Najib’s sentence.
The order did not comply with Article 42 of Malaysia’s federal constitution, which grants the king and state rulers or governors the power to grant pardons, reprieves and respites for offences.
Najib began his jail term in August 2022 after he was found guilty of three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money laundering and one count of abuse of power by the High Court in July 2020.
The charges involved the transfer of RM42 million from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB into his personal bank accounts in 2014 and 2015.
He was sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million, but the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah reduced it to six years’ jail and a RM50 million fine just before stepping down on Jan 30, 2024.
The board announced the sentence reduction on Feb 2 last year.
Najib was not the first high-profile politicians to be charged in court for abuse of power, corruption and money laundering.
The others include former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, current Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
Muhyiddin faces seven charges of power abuse by soliciting RM232.5 million in bribes and receiving RM200 million in illegal proceeds.
The offences, allegedly committed when he was the prime minister, were linked to the Jana Wibawa project from three companies, namely Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, Nepturis Sdn Bhd, and Mamfor Sdn Bhd, as well as from Azman, for the benefit of Parti Pribumi Malaysia Bersaty (Bersatu), of which he its president.
The alleged offences took place at the Prime Minister’s Office between March 1, 2020, and August 20, 2021.
Judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin has fixed 29 days for the trial next year.
In the case of Ahmad Zahid, he was acquitted of all 40 graft charges against him after High Court Judge Yazid Mustafa found that the prosecution had not made out a prima facie case as it had failed to prove the element of graft.
However, Ahmad Zahid was discharged not amounting to acquittal to 47 other charges after the prosecution decided not to proceed.
On Sept 4, 2023, the High Court Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah acquitted Ahmad Zahid of the 47
charges of criminal breach of trust, corruption and money laundering involving Yayasan Akalbudi funds.
Lim Guan Eng is currently on a corruption trial related to the multi-billion ringgit Penang undersea tunnel project.
He faces multiple charges involving abuse of power, bribery, and dishonest misappropriation of state land.
