A week after apology, Malaysian ex-PM Najib fails to end a five-year trial over the 1MDB scandal

A Malaysian court on Wednesday dealt a new blow to former leader Najib Razak’s efforts to end a five-year trial over the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal. bribes related to the sovereign wealth fund.

The statement came a week after Najib apologized “unreservedly” for the 1MDB debacle that cost Malaysian taxpayers billions of dollars, but repeatedly denied any knowledge of the rot at the core of a fund he managed as prime minister set up.

Najib is already in custody for a corruption conviction linked to a former 1MDB unit, and faces two other criminal cases linked to 1MDB.

Najib’s legal team had tried to show that the prosecutor had no basis for allegations that he abused his power to extract nearly 2.3 billion ringgit ($535 million) in bribes from the scandal-tainted fund.

But the High Court in the capital Kuala Lumpur ruled on Wednesday that the prosecution had proven sufficient grounds in its case against the jailed former prime minister, and ordered him to defend himself at the next stage of the trial.

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The legacy of Malaysia’s 1MDB politics and anti-corruption scandal

The ruling came six years after he was first indicted in 2018 on four counts of using his position to obtain bribes, and another 21 counts of money laundering involving the same amount.