Ex-Malaysia PM Najib goes on trial over 1MDB scandal

Malaysia’s disgraced former leader Najib Razak pleaded not guilty to all charges against him as he went on trial Wednesday over a multi billion dollar fraud.

The 65-year-old faced the first of several trials over his alleged involvement in the looting of sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, a state investment vehicle established to develop the economy of the Southeast Asian nation.

The former premier and his cronies are accused of plundering billions of dollars from the fund and spending it on everything from high-end real estate to artworks and a luxury yacht.

He had been tipped to win another term in office easily last year and extend his coalition’s six-decade stranglehold on power, only to be soundly defeated by his former boss, Mahathir Mohamad, who rode a wave of public anger over 1MDB to the premiership.

In the months that followed, once-dormant investigations into the controversy were relaunched and Najib was hit with dozens of corruption charges linked to the plundering of the fund.

A small crowd of supporters was waiting for Najib as he arrived at the Kuala Lumpur court ahead of his trial, and he prayed with them for a few minutes before entering the building to shouts of “Long Live Najib.”

Dressed in a dark blue suit, the former leader – who was premier for almost a decade – looked calm and smiled as he took his seat in the dock. His defense team made an 11thhour bid to get proceedings delayed but the judge ruled against them.