A week after apology, Malaysian ex-PM Najib fails to end 5-year trial over 1MDB scandal

A Malaysian court on Wednesday delivered a fresh blow to efforts by former leader Najib Razak to end a five-year trial over the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, ordering him to enter a defence over allegations that he took more than US$500 million in bribes linked to the state fund.

The ruling came a week after Najib “unreservedly” apologised for the 1MDB debacle which cost Malaysian taxpayers billions of dollars, yet repeated denials of any knowledge of the rot at the core of a fund he established as prime minister.

Najib is already serving time for a corruption conviction linked to a former unit of 1MDB, and faces two other criminal trials linked to 1MDB.

Najib’s legal team had sought to show that the prosecution had no basis for allegations that he abused his power to obtain nearly 2.3 billion ringgit (US$535 million) in bribes carved out of the scandal-tainted fund.

But the High Court in capital Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday found that the prosecution had proved sufficient grounds in its case against the jailed former prime minister, ordering him to enter a defence in the next stage of the trial.

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