Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak was charged with 21 counts of money laundering and for counts of abuse of power on Thursday over hundreds of millions of dollars received in his personal bank account.
Najib now faces a total of 32 charges as investigators probe how billions from the 1MDB state fund went missing. The 1Malaysia Development Berhad was founded and chaired by Najib. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Investigators say Najib as the prime minister, finance minister and chairman of 1MDB used his position to siphon off funds up to 2.3 billion ringgit ($556.23 million) between 2011 and 2014 for his personal use.
In 2015, the Wall Street Journal had reported that Najib had transferred $681 million dollars to his personal bank account. This was confirmed by the US Department of Justice a year later. The department also claimed that the funds came from 1MDB. It also said a total of $4.5 billion was stolen from the Malaysian fund.
Najib tried to crack down on dissent following the money laundering allegations. But in the elections held in May, a surprise victory was awarded to Mahathir Mohamad, his mentor, who then went on to reopen the 1MDB case for investigation.
Earlier this year, prosecutors brought a total of seven charges, involving money laundering, criminal breach of trust and abuse of power, relating to funds of about 42 million ringgit that allegedly flowed from SRC International, a former 1MDB unit, into his personal bank account. The SRC trial will begin in February.
1MDB is being investigated by at least six countries, including Singapore, Switzerland and the United States, over alleged money laundering and graft.
