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With elections in Malaysia just two weeks away, finews.asia revisits the billion-dollar 1MBD graft scandal which is dogging incumbent Najib Razak.

The $5 billion graft scandal would be enough to sink even the most successful candidate anywhere else. The U.S.’ top prosecutor has called it «kleptocracy at its worst», and officials there have all but identified Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak as part of it.

Nevertheless, the scandal doesn’t seem to be making a huge splash on May 9, when Malaysians will choose between Najib and nonagenarian Mahathir Mohamad to lead them. Mahathir, a sprightly 92-year-old former Prime Minister, hasn’t entirely succeeded in bringing the 1MDB scandal to the forefront of the election debate. Instead, he himself is dogged by a scandal over foreign exchange losses in the 1990s.

Spooked by a Close Race

A defeat for Najib and his party would almost certainly expose what has until now remained under cover on 1MDB, and the PM appears spooked by a close race. He and the party have opted for everything from rushing through changes to voting, cash for farm smallholders, and tax cuts for low-income wage-earners.

Outside Malaysia, the focus is squarely on 1MDB, where several noteworthy things have advanced the scandal: Najib’s stepson, Riza Aziz, clinched a $60 million settlement with U.S. authorities over allegations that the sovereign wealth fund bankrolled films including 2013’s «The Wolf of Wall Street» (click here for the real Wolf of Wall Street’s indictment of 1MDB).

Singapore Probe Still Ongoing

Jho Low, AWOL for the better part of the last two years, has hit back against having his luxury assets seized, including a $260 million superyacht that he had reportedly holed up in.

Two years on, bankers at the heart of the scandal like Hanspeter Brunner, formerly of Banca della Svizzera Italiana, or BSI, still don’t know their fate. Brunner’s Swiss lawyer told finews.asia that a criminal probe in Singapore is ongoing [An earlier version of this story incorrectly inferred that Singapore has opened a criminal probe against former BSI Asia head Hanspeter Brunner].

Concerns Relegated

Given Singapore’s treatment of Jens Sturzenegger, the former branch manager of Falcon Private Bank in Singapore, Brunner and his counsel are probably not counting their chickens before they hatch.

In Malaysia itself, such concerns have been relegated to the back burner. Instead, voters are bracing for what looks to be a blatantly dirty-tricks election. In recent weeks, Malaysia has passed «fake news» laws with stiff penalties, and slated the election for a weekday. This effectively freezes out the prolific Malaysian diaspora in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia, who would probably return home to vote if the election was held on a weekend.