Former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, has failed in his last attempt to delay the 1MDB trial after a unanimous call by five judges upheld the decision to continue holding the trial on August 19.
Najib Razak faces 25 charges of money laundering and abuse of power over allegations of more than $500 million transferred from state fund 1MDB to his personal bank accounts. The judges' decision not to delay trial exhausts all remaining legal options for the defendant or prosecutor to delay trial.
In addition, Najib also faces a separate trial on seven charges of money laundering, criminal breach of trust and corruption which included illegal transactions worth $10 million from former 1MDB subsidiary, SRC International into his personal bank account. The SRC trial was postponed after clams of a bombing in late July led to a mass evacuation at the court.
Government’s Top Priority
Following Najib's ousting, Malaysia has ushered in new leadership including new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and the defeat of Najib’s Barisan Nasional Party which led to opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan’s victory. Mahathir has vowed to make the recovery of lost assets one of his government’s top priorities.
Most recently, the Malaysian government charged 17 current and former Goldman Sachs directors for their wrongdoings in the 1MDB scandal.
