Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (centre) is brought to the Kuala Lumpur High Court on July 4 (Photo: EPA/VNA) Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Thecriminal and corruption trial of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razakwill begin in February next year, reported the Malaymail news outlet.
Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge DatukMohd Sofian Abd Razak fixed the case for management on August 8, 2018, andtentatively set the trial for 19 days, starting from February 18 to March 15,2019, the Malaysian newspaper said.
The tentative dates for the trial are:February 18-28, March 4-8, and March 11-15, 2019.
The former PM made his appearance incourt on July 4 in Kuala Lumpur for corruption-related charges over his allegedinvolvement in the multi-billion-dollar 1MBD scandal.
Najib was charged with three counts ofcriminal breach of trust in his former posts as Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, inassociation with the transfer of 42 million Malaysian ringgit (10.5 million USD)from SRC International, a subsidiary of the 1MBD, to his personal bank accountsbetween August 2011 and March 2015.
He also faced one count of corruption. Each count carries a fine and a sentenceof up to 20 years in prison.
Najib pleaded not guilty to all charges at court.
He founded the 1MDB investment fund in2009 with the aim of serving Malaysia’s development through global partnershipsand foreign direct investment.
However, it became the centre of a money laundering scandal, allegedly causinglosses of up to 3.7 billion USD and leading to probes into the financial marketsin several countries such as the US, Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysia, andChina.
In early May, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission summoned Razak and hiswife for investigation. Police also seized a vast quantity of valuables, worthup to 273 million USD, from the country’s former leader.
Taking office after the May 9 election, new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamadsaid one of the top priorities of his Government is dealing with the corruptionand recovering the losses from 1MDB. The Malaysian Government alsore-investigated the 1MDB case and set up a special committee to look into theproblems surrounding this fund. -VNA
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