KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 3): Malaysia’s former leader Najib Razak is set to give his testimony to defend himself against charges of corruption involving a former 1MDB unit.
The ex-prime minister is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday morning to give a sworn statement and be questioned, after the judge ruled last month that the prosecution had made a successful case against him. Najib is accused of receiving 42 million ringgit ($14 million) of bribes in exchange for approving a state guarantee on a loan.
While he had the option of refusing to be examined or to remain silent, his lawyer said Najib looked forward to telling “the real story” of what happened in the former 1MDB unit known as SRC International Sdn. Over the course of the hearing, his lawyers have sought to argue that he had been misled by others, such as fugitive financier Jho Low.
Since the hearing started in April, prosecutors have called dozens of witnesses, including a central bank official and a former cabinet minister, to argue Najib engaged in a “planned, premeditated criminal breach of trust case” that ran over many years.
The SRC trial is only the first of at least three ongoing 1MDB trials involving Najib. He faces a total of 42 corruption and money-laundering charges, including those linked to billion-dollar acquisitions and bond sales by the scandal-ridden fund.
