KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Jailed former Malaysian premier Najib Razak had an "unmistakable bond" with a fugitive financier accused of a central role in massive embezzlement from state fund 1MDB, a judge said on Friday ahead of a verdict in the biggest trial yet in the multibillion-dollar scandal.
Malaysia and US investigators say at least $4.5 billion was stolen from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a state fund Najib co-founded in 2009 while in office. More than $1 billion allegedly made its way into accounts linked to Najib, who has denied wrongdoing.
A Malaysian high court is deciding whether to convict Najib of four more charges of corruption and 21 counts of money laundering involving the illegal transfer of about 2.2 billion ringgit ($539 million) from 1MDB.
The judge is expected to announce his verdict later on Friday.
Najib, 72, has been in prison since August 2022, when Malaysia's top court upheld a corruption conviction for illegally receiving funds from a 1MDB unit. His 12-year jail sentence in that case was halved last year by a pardons board.
Najib has repeatedly said he was misled by 1MDB officials and fugitive financier Jho Low, who has been charged in the United States for his central role in the case. Low, whose whereabouts are unknown, has denied wrongdoing.
'PURE FANTASY'
In an ongoing reading of the verdict, Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah said multiple witnesses during the trial described Low as close to Najib and an adviser who often gave directions on 1MDB dealings on his behalf.
The evidence revealed an "unmistakable bond and connection" between Najib and Low, who acted as the then prime minister’s “proxy and intermediary” in 1MDB affairs, the judge said.
"It must be appreciated that the accused...stood at the very apex of the decision-making process with regard to matters in 1MDB," Sequerah said.
"To entertain the belief that officers subordinate to him in the hierarchy would willingly and knowingly conspire against a sitting prime minister of the day, together with Jho Low who did not even hold an official position in 1MDB, would be to stretch the imagination into the realms of pure fantasy."
Najib last year apologised for mishandling the scandal while in office. Najib sat with his head down and shoulders slumped at multiple moments during the first two hours of the reading.
If found guilty, Najib could face maximum jail terms of between 15 and 20 years on each charge, as well as a fine of up to five times the value of the alleged misappropriations.
In his defence, Najib has maintained that Low and other 1MDB officials misled him into believing that funds deposited into his account were donations from the Saudi royal family.
Sequerah said Najib's argument was "implausible" and as prime minister and finance minister he would have had all resources available to verify and authenticate the origins of the funds.
He also dismissed letters produced by Najib allegedly originating from the Saudi royal family on the donations, saying they were not corroborated by other documentary evidence and were probably forgeries.
"The irresistible conclusion is that the Arab donation narrative is not meritorious ... the evidence pointed unmistakably to the fact that the monies were, in fact derived from 1MDB funds," Sequerah said.
TEST OF GOVERNMENT STABILITY
The verdict comes just days after another court denied a bid by Najib to serve his jail sentence under house arrest - a decision that reignited tensions within current Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's administration.
Najib's party, the United Malays National Organisation, campaigned against Anwar in a 2022 election but joined his coalition to form a government after the poll ended in a hung parliament.
Several UMNO leaders expressed disappointment with Monday's decision, while others were angered by social media posts by some members of Anwar's coalition celebrating the ruling.
Anwar on Tuesday called for calm, urging all parties to accept the court verdict with "full patience and wisdom".