FROM PAGE 12

state fund Najib co-founded in 2009 during the first of his nine years in power in the Southeast Asian country.

More than $1 billion allegedly made its way into accounts linked to 72-year-old Najib, who was first imprisoned in 2022 in another 1MDB case and has long insisted he has been made the scapegoat for Malaysia’s biggest-ever financial scandal.

During a verdict that took five hours to deliver, High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah said Najib’s contention that he was repeatedly deceived by others at 1MDB was implausible and to believe that would “stretch the imagination into the realms of pure fantasy”.

On a day of reckoning for arguably Malaysia’s most divisive politician Najib was found guilty of all four counts of abuse of power and all 21 money laundering charges, after a marathon legal battle that included multiple appeals and a partial royal pardon.