On December 26, 2024, the Kuala Lumpur High Court found former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak guilty on all 25 counts in his second and most significant trial related to the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund scandal. Najib, 72, was convicted of four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving the illegal transfer of 2.2 billion ringgit ($543m) into his personal accounts. Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah sentenced Najib to 15 years in prison, with the terms for all charges to run concurrently. The judge dismissed Najib’s defense that he was an “ignoramus” misled by fugitive financier Jho Low or that the funds were Saudi royal donations, citing “incontrovertible evidence” of Najib’s direct involvement.
BREAKING: Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak ordered to serve 15 years in jail after a court convicted him on multiple counts of abuse of power and money laundering over his role in the multibillion-dollar fraud scandal at 1MDB https://t.co/5LaaJhWmuz pic.twitter.com/UPMbOa5YaP
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 26, 2025
This verdict carries immense political weight as Najib’s party, UMNO, is a key member of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government. While the ruling bolsters the judiciary’s independence, it risks destabilizing the ruling coalition if Najib’s supporters perceive the sentence as a political “witch hunt.” Najib is already serving a commuted six-year sentence from a previous 1MDB-related conviction; this new 15-year term represents a major milestone in one of the world’s largest financial corruption cases.
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