Earlier today, you might’ve read that former Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak was found guilty of 7 charges that include abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust.
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High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, who was presiding over the trial, finds Najib guilty of all seven charges.
He said that after considering all the evidence in this trial, he found that the prosecution has “proven its case beyond reasonable doubt”.
The charges are for:
- one count of abuse of power
- three counts of criminal breach of trust
- three counts of money laundering regarding the misappropriation of RM42 million (S$13.6 million) from SRC International
Each of the charges carries a prison term of 15 to 20 years.
So technically speaking, he could have been jailed for 140 years.
But fortunately for him, the sentencing is out and he can serve each charge concurrently. That’d good news for him, right?
For the six charges (other than the abuse of power), he was given 10 years’ jailtime each, so technically it was 60 years’ worth of jailtime. For the abuse of power, the sentencing is 12 years’ jailtime and a SGD$68 million fine.
Add everything together and it’d be 72 years of jailtime and SGD$68 million fine.
But because he can serve all charges together, he would just need to serve 12 years in prison and pay SGD$68 million fine. If he can’t pay the fine, an additional 5-year jail will be served instead.
Najib has mentioned in a Facebook post earlier that he intended to appeal against the decision at the Federal court.
And by the way, this isn’t the end. In fact, it’s just the beginning.
This is the first of five trials.
Malaysia’s former prime minister isn’t facing just 7 charges.
He’s facing 42 counts of corruption, abuse of power and money laundering across five different court cases.
US authorities alleged that over US$4.5 billion (S$6.2 billion) was embezzled from the state fund, 1MDB, and spent to purchase yachts, paintings and high-end properties across the world.
Najib was also ordered to pay RM1.69 billion to the Inland Revenue Board for unpaid taxes.
Also, if an election is called, he won’t be able to run for a seat while the guilty verdict still stands.
Meaning he’ll be kicked out of the government.