KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has halved the sentence of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was convicted and sent to prison for 12 years for corruption in the multibillion-dollar scandal.
Najib is set to be released on 23 August 2028, and fines imposed on him reduced to fifty million ringgit (10.6 million dollars) from 210 million ringgit (44.5 million dollars), the pardons board said on Friday.
If he fails to pay the fine an additional year will be imposed on his prison term, the board said in a statement.
First Malaysian prime minister to be jailed
Najib, the first prime minister in the country’s history to be imprisoned, remains on trial in multiple cases related to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state fund he set up as premier to spur economic development.
But investigators say it was instead plundered to buy high-end properties, the Equanimity superyacht, and finance the production of The Wolf of Wall Street film starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Some $4.5 billion was stolen, with hundreds of millions ending up in accounts linked to the ex-prime minister, according to investigators in Malaysia and the US.
The former prime minister was acquitted of audit tampering in connection with 1MDB, but has not shown any contrition for the scandal. He has sought to focus attention on Jho Low, the Malaysian financier who is accused of planning the scheme and is now a fugitive.
The British-educated son of Malay nobility, Najib served as prime minister from 2009 to 2018 when public fury over the scandal led to his United Malays National Organisation party losing power for the first time since Malaysia secured its independence in 1957.
The United States Department of Justice described the 1MDB case as “kleptocracy at its worst”.
