Najib to be charged today in Malaysia graft probe

FORMER Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and his ex-head of Treasury will be charged today in connection with the misuse of government funds, the anti-graft agency said, the latest charges in a widening crackdown on corruption.

Najib and former Treasury Secretary-General Mohamad Irwan Serigar Abdullah were questioned by anti-graft investigators yesterday to help conclude the probe, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said in a statement.

The two will be brought to a Kuala Lumpur court today to be charged, it said. “Both of them will be charged together in connection with an investigation into several cases of criminal breach of trust involving Malaysian government funds.”

The charges are linked to a multi-billion dollar scandal at 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a state fund founded by Najib in 2009, a source said.

Najib is already facing 32 money laundering, graft and breach of trust charges over more than 2.3 billion ringgit (US$552.2 million) in transactions linked to 1MDB.

United States authorities allege that US$4.5 billion was siphoned from the fund and that about US$700 million was diverted into Najib’s personal bank accounts.

Separately, the MACC said similar charges would be brought against Malaysia’s former foreign intelligence agency chief, Hasanah Abdul Hamid, today. Hasanah and seven other agents of the Malaysian External Intelligence Organization were detained in August.

Authorities have frozen hundreds of bank accounts and blocked several people from leaving the country amid a wide-ranging probe into corruption launched by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad after Najib was ousted in a shock general election upset in May.