The Malaysian Insight

FORMER prime minister Najib Razak arrived at the Kuala Lumpur High Court this morning for his 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial.

Najib arrived in a Toyota Fortuner flanked by other vehicles from Kajang Prison at 8.30am.

The car escorted Najib straight to the court basement, leaving reporters without a view of the Pekan MP.

He was however not in prison garb and handcuffs, but in a dark blue suit and red tie. PKR president Anwar Ibrahim was also allowed to wear a suit when he was brought to court for cases.

Outside the court lobby, none of the hundreds of supporters who showed up on Tuesday to support Najib during his SRC International Sdn Bhd trial could be seen.

Inside the courtroom, several Kajang Prison officers with red berets could be seen waiting to guard him.

While waiting for proceedings to start, Najib was placed in the witness room.

On Tuesday, the Federal Court affirmed the High Court’s sentence in the SRC International case and ordered him to begin his 12-year sentence in Kajang Prison.

He also has to pay a fine of RM210 million.

While the SRC International case has concluded, Najib still has five ongoing trials, meaning he will be leaving the prison quite often to attend his court cases.

In the 1MDB trial, Najib is facing 25 charges.

Four of them are counts of abuse of power under Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Act 2009 for offences allegedly committed between February 24, 2011, and December 19, 2014.

The remaining 21 are for money laundering under Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001. The money laundering charges involve nine counts of receiving RM2.08 billion, seven counts of transferring RM2.19 billion and five counts of using RM22.65 million. – August 25, 2022.