Malaysia's former prime minister, Najib Razak, has been arrested in connection with a probe into an alleged $4.5 billion corruption scheme at state fund 1MDB, according to local media reports.
Ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak was arrested at his home in an exclusive suburb of Kuala Lumpur, several local media outlets reported on Tuesday, citing the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, or MACC.
His arrest, which couldn't immediately be verified by finews.asia, represents a stunning reversal of fortunes less than two months after a peaceful handover of power to 92-year-old Mohamad Mahathir. The nonagenarian current and former PM has kickstarted a largely dormant probe into 1MDB since upsetting Najib in a May 9 election.
Najib was arrested shortly after it emerged that $273 million have been frozen over possible links to 1MDB, and on the same day that his stepson Riza Aziz, who settled his own skirmish with U.S. prosecutors in March, testified to Malaysian officials. Najib is expected to be taken to court on Wednesday to be remanded, according to the press reports.
Fate of Low, Bankers?
Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, have both testified to the MACC. Meanwhile, raids of a luxury Kuala Lumpur condominium linked to the family turned up almost 300 boxes of designer handbags, 114 million Malaysian ringgit ($28.2 million) in cash, and jewelry. Najib has said the bags and baubles were wedding presents to his daughter.
The arrest of Najib, a 64-year-old career politician, raises the stakes for several bankers and others linked to the probe. Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, who is being sought by the U.S., Singapore and Malaysia, is reportedly holed up in Dubai, from where he cannot be extradited.
Bankers including Swiss-born Hanspeter Brunner still await their fate in Singapore. Brunner was head of the Asian arm of private bank Banca della Svizzera Italiana, or BSI, which was shut down in the city-state due to its dealings with 1MDB and Low.
