New charges for ex-PM Najib
MALAYSIA’S former prime minister Najib Razak was hit with new charges yesterday linked to a multi-billion dollar financial scandal that contributed to his shock election defeat in May.
Looking tired as he appeared in court, Mr Najib was charged with three counts of money-laundering over claims he pocketed $10.3 million. He faces up to 15 years’ jail on each charge.
Malaysia’s new government is probing claims that billions of dollars were looted from a state fund set up by Mr Najib, in a sophisticated fraud. SURVIVORS are waiting for food, water and tents after a 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit the island of Lombok in the south-central region of Indonesia, leaving at least 105 people dead and about 200 injured.
Thousands of tourists are gradually leaving the island by boat and plane, after they sought shelter in the airport or on the beaches after the August 5 quake.
The victims are all Indonesians while the injured include seven foreigners: a British citizen, one Dane, one American, one French, one Belgian, one Czech and one South Korean.
The spokesperson for the National Agency for Disaster Management, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said the death toll was expected to increase.
Most of the victims died in northern Lombok, where numerous houses and mosques collapsed. Emergency services are working to locate survivors as well as recover the bodies.
On the road to the north of the island, locals were ask- ing for money to help the victims amid collapsed buildings.
Dozens of injured people are being treated in tents temporarily set up near Tanjung hospital in the northwest of the island, as the centre was damaged by the quake and was evacuated.
Aid has reached many survivors, but there is still a lack of food, water and tents in areas that are difficult to access.
Lombok is an island known for its volcanic Mount Rinjani and comprises about 4700sq km in land area.
It is located east of Bali, where the earthquake killed two people.
About 250 aftershocks were recorded on the small islands surrounding Lombok — Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan — where some 7000 tourists were evacuated after the quake.
A week earlier, on July 29, another magnitude-6.4 earthquake hit Lombok and left 16 people dead, 355 injured and destroyed 1500 buildings.