KUALA LUMPUR (Portal) – Malaysia’s top court on Friday dismissed a bid by jailed former Prime Minister Najib Razak to review his corruption conviction over the billion-dollar sovereign wealth fund 1MDB scandal, ending Najib’s court efforts to challenge the guilty verdict.
Najib became the first Malaysian PM to be jailed after Malaysia’s federal court upheld a guilty verdict and a 12-year sentence handed down by a lower court.
Najib, 69, can no longer challenge the conviction in court, but he has requested a royal pardon that, if successful, could release him without serving the full 12-year sentence.
Federal Judge Vernon Ong said a five-member panel voted 4-1 to deny Najib’s request for a conviction review.
There was no miscarriage of justice in the Supreme Court’s decision last year, he said, adding that a review would only be granted in “very limited and exceptional circumstances”.
“Ultimately, and considering all the circumstances, we have to say that the complainant (Najib) was the author of his own misfortune,” Ong said.
Najib’s attorney, Shafee Abdullah, said there was a possibility of another lawsuit in court due to a judge’s dissenting opinion.
“A path is open as a result of the minority ruling,” Shafee told reporters. He declined to say what actions his client would be taking.
US and Malaysian investigators said around $4.5 billion was stolen from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) – which Najib co-founded in his first year as prime minister in 2009 – and that more than $1 billion was linked to Najib connected accounts went.
Various recipients of the skimmed 1MDB funds used the money to buy luxury goods and real estate, a Picasso painting, a private jet, a superyacht, hotels, jewelry and to finance the 2013 Hollywood film The Wolf of Wall Street called investigators.
Najib suppressed Malaysian investigations into the wide-ranging 1MDB scandal during his tenure, although global investigations continued, but was indicted after losing a general election in 2018.
The British-raised son of Malay nobility held the post of prime minister from 2009 to 2018 when public anger over the transplant scandal led to an election defeat.
He was found guilty by a high court in 2020 of criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering for illegally receiving about $10 million from SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB. He lost all his callings.
Najib faces three other transplant-related lawsuits at 1MDB and other government agencies.
The former prime minister has consistently pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Reporting by Rozanna Latiff, additional reporting by Mei Mei Chu; Writing by A.Ananthalakshmi; Adaptation by Ed Davies and Michael Perry
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