Najib Razak

Najib Razak, who served as the Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018, has been embroiled in multiple scandals and legal proceedings related to corruption and financial misconduct. The most prominent case is the 1MDB scandal, a massive corruption and money laundering conspiracy involving the state-owned investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Evidence indicates that at least US$3.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB, with Najib Razak implicated in channeling over RM2.67 billion (approximately US$700 million) into his personal bank accounts, as revealed by leaked documents in 2015 (Wikipedia). Najib was convicted on multiple charges related to this scandal. On December 26, 2025, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for abuse of power and money laundering, with additional convictions involving misappropriation of nearly 2.3 billion Malaysian ringgit (about US$569 million) from 1MDB. He was found guilty of four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering after a trial that lasted seven years, during which 76 witnesses testified (BBC; Nikkei Asia). Additionally, Najib Razak was ordered by a Malaysian High Court on March 31, 2026, to pay US$1.3 billion to a government-linked company for abuse of power and breach of fiduciary duties connected to the 1MDB scandal. His legal troubles extend beyond this case, as he has already been serving a six-year sentence for related charges since 2022 (Nikkei Asia). Overall, Najib Razak's career has been heavily overshadowed by allegations of corruption, financial misconduct, and convictions tied to the 1MDB scandal, making him one of Malaysia's most controversial political figures in recent history.