News Desk
KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian court acquitted former prime minister Najib Razak of a corruption charge on Friday, however he will continue to serve a 12-year prison term in another case.
High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan said state prosecutors could not provide sufficient evidence to prove that Najib altered an official audit report on scandal-hit state fund 1MDB for his benefit.
The court also acquitted, Najib’s co-accused, former 1MDB chief Arul Kanda Kandasamy.
The charge, dismissed on Friday, was based on allegations that Najib used his position to alter a report on the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund by the official audit body of the government in February 2016. According to the charge, which carried up to 20 years in jail on conviction, the changes aimed to exonerate him from any criminal liability. Allegedly, he was assisted by Arul Kanda, who was at the time president and chief executive of the fund.
Najib was brought to court on Friday from Kajang Prison, where the 69-year-old is currently serving a 12-year jail term for abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust for transfering 42 million ringgit ($10.1 million) from former 1MDB unit SRC International to his personal bank account.
The highest court in Malaysia dismissed his final plea on that case in August last year and ordered him to begin serving his sentence on immediate basis.
Caught up in multiple cases
Friday’s acquittal eased the pressure on Najib, but it would not affect his current sentence.
The former leader still faces dozens of other charges, which could lengthen his jail-term. Most of theseb are related to his alleged involvement in the 1MDB financial scandal which involved the use of foreign financial systems to launder stolen funds. The charges led to probes around the world, including in the United States, Switzerland and Singapore.
