Malaysian Supreme Court revisits Najib Razak’s case

The Malaysian Supreme Court on Thursday began hearing former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s appeal to overturn a prison sentence on corruption charges.

Hearings initiated by the Supreme Court in this case will last until August 26.

But as the hearing began, defense attorney Husam Teh-Po-Tek surprised the five judges by saying he was asking to be released from the case.

Court chairman Tengko Mimun-Tuan-Mat, a lawyer, replied that he could not simply resign and ordered the hearing to be postponed.

On Tuesday, a federal court denied Razak’s motion for a retrial, paving the way for the Supreme Court to begin considering an appeal against the conviction.

Razak, 69, and his ruling party were defeated in the 2018 elections amid allegations of involvement in the 1MDB scandal.

Former Prime Minister Najib Razak is accused along with his family of embezzling billions of dollars from the fund and spending it to buy luxury real estate and valuable works of art.

After a lengthy legal battle, Razak was found guilty of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust by transferring RM42 million ($10.1 million) from the 1MDB unit to his bank account.

In July 2020, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

According to his lawyer, if the guilty verdict is confirmed, Razak will immediately go to jail to begin the execution of the sentence.

Despite his criminal record, Razak still wields broad influence and is popular with part of the electorate.

Source: AFP.

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