KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian court on Wednesday allowed corruption charges in one of several cases linked to the scandal-wracked 1MDB sovereign wealth fund against jailed ex-prime minister Najib Razak to be dropped, his lawyer said.

Najib is currently in jail after being convicted in one of five cases related to 1MDB from which billions of dollars had been allegedly pilfered. He will face another trial from Dec 2.

Charges dropped on Wednesday relates to payments of 6.6 billion ringgit ($1.48 billion) allegedly made to Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company. “The court correctly exercised its jurisdiction to discharge our client of the charges,” his lawyer Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee said.

“The decision today was based on the non-disclosure of critical documents, six years from the initial charges being read, that are relevant to our client’s preparation of his defence,” Farhan said.

Similarly, Farhan said the Kuala Lumpur High Court also dropped charges against Najib’s ally and former treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah.

However, prosecutors can seek renewed charges if they were to disclose the crucial documents that had been withheld from Najib’s defence, as the court’s decision on Wednesday did not amount to a full acquittal.

Najib, in October, issued an apology that the 1MDB scandal happened during his tenure, but maintained he had no knowledge of illegal transfers from the now-defunct state fund.

Allegations that billions of dollars were stolen from investment vehicle 1MDB and used to buy everything from a super-yacht to artwork played a major role in prompting voters to oust Najib and the long-ruling United Malays National Organisation party in 2018 elections. The 1MDB scandal sparked investigations in the United States, Switzerland and Singapore, where the funds were allegedly laundered.

Litany of cases

Najib began serving a 12-year jail term in August 2022 for offences linked to the misuse of public money from former 1MDB unit SRC International. The sentence was later halved by Malaysia’s pardons board. His 1MDB audit tampering trial ended with an acquittal at the High Court in 2023.

In October, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that 71-year-old will have to defend himself against four counts of abuse of power linked to 2.27 billion ringgit in alleged bribes and 21 counts of money laundering, involving Tanore Finance Corp. The trial is slated to get underway on Dec 2.

Another money laundering trial over 27 million ringgit in funds is set to commence in April 2025. The US Justice Department has said more than $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB between 2009 and 2015 by high-level officials at the fund and their associates.

Najib, the UK-educated son of one of Malaysia’s founding fathers, had been groomed for the prime minister’s post from a young age. He set up 1MDB after coming to power in 2009 to bolster economic development, but the fund amassed billions of dollars in debt. But Najib’s reputation has been battered not just by 1MDB but other graft controversies.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2024