Kuala Lumpur, December 26,2025: Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak was found guilty on Friday in his second major corruption trial linked to the multibillion-dollar 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, marking another significant legal blow for the disgraced leader.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court convicted Najib, 72, on all 21 counts of money laundering and four counts of abuse of power over the illegal transfer of 2.2 billion Malaysian ringgit (approximately $543 million) from the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund into his personal bank accounts.
Delivering the verdict, Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah rejected Najib’s claim that the case against him was politically motivated. “The contention by the accused that the charges against him were a witch hunt and politically motivated were debunked by the cold, hard and incontrovertible evidence,” the judge said, adding that Najib had abused his powerful position in relation to 1MDB and the extensive authority vested in him.
Each conviction carries a potential prison sentence of between 15 and 20 years. However, the court has yet to announce the final sentencing.
Prosecutors argued that Najib abused his roles as prime minister, finance minister and chairman of 1MDB’s advisory board by siphoning vast sums of money from the state fund into his personal accounts more than a decade ago.
Najib was previously convicted in 2020 in a separate 1MDB-linked case and sentenced to 12 years in prison for misappropriating about $9.9 million. That sentence was later commuted to six years.
The latest case is widely regarded as the most significant of the 1MDB trials, as it directly involved 1MDB entities and far larger sums of money. The proceedings spanned seven years and involved testimony from 76 witnesses, including Najib himself.
“These financial crimes are multi-layered, and it’s been a long, extensive process,” said Bridget Welsh, an honorary research associate at the University of Nottingham’s Asia Research Institute Malaysia, describing the case as highly complex.
Although Najib apologised last year for mishandling the 1MDB affair, he maintained during the trial that he had been misled by fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, commonly known as Jho Low, who has been wanted by Interpol since 2016.
However, Judge Sequerah said evidence showed Najib had an “unmistakable bond and connection” with Jho Low, who acted as his “proxy and intermediary”, according to Reuters. The judge also rejected Najib’s claim that he believed some of the funds were legitimate “donations” from the Saudi royal family.
The 1MDB scandal, which surfaced in 2015, was a turning point in Malaysian politics and played a key role in ending the United Malays National Organisation’s (UMNO) six-decade rule in the 2018 general election.
Despite the convictions, Najib retains support among sections of the public, and his trial remains a sensitive issue for UMNO, now part of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government. Political analysts warn that the verdict could add strain to the ruling coalition.
“While the judgement was fair and appropriate, the conviction on all charges could be seen as harsh by Najib’s supporters at a time of shifting political sentiments,” said Kuala Lumpur-based analyst James Chai, adding that it could affect the stability of the unity government.
With sentencing and an appeals process still pending, observers say the case represents a crucial test for Malaysia’s judiciary and political accountability.
“This is a test of Malaysia’s judiciary, and it’s a test of political will to allow this to continue,” Welsh said, particularly given that the party linked to Najib remains part of the current government.
