Kuala Lumpur: Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was charged on Wednesday with three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of using his position for gratification as part of a probe into missing money from state fund 1MDB.
“The charges are in connection with how 42 million ringgit ($10 million) went from SRC International, a former 1MDB unit, into Najib’s personal bank account.”, reported Reuters.
Razak was was arrested by anti-corruption investigators on Tuesday.
According to AFP, "1MDB's Task Force confirmed the arrest of Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak," and his arrest "was made at his home" in the Jalan Langgak Duta district in Kuala Lumpur.
Razak was presented in the High Court, which has granted an interim gag order against the media from discussing the "merits of the case" of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
“Defence lawyer Tan Sri Dr Muhammad Shafee Abdullah made the request on grounds that his client had been facing a trial by media since he stepped down as the Prime Minister.”, reported The Star Online.
Attorney-General Tommy Thomas earlier objected to the request, citing freedom of expression and speech, and said, "What is the point of issuing a gag order when the whole world would talk about it?"
High Court judge Justice Mohd Sofian Abd Razak, however, granted the interim gag order and fixed Aug 8 for a hearing on the official application.
“Najib is charged with getting RM42mil bribe to approve RM4bil loan from pension fund to SRC”, reported The Star Online. Razak has pleaded not guilty.
“The prosecution team, which is led by Attorney General Tommy Thomas, includes Datuk Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria, Manoj Kurup, Datuk Suhaimi Ibrahim, Datuk Umar Saifuddin Jaafar, Datuk Ishak Mohd Yusoff, Donald Joseph Franklin, Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi, Budiman Lutfi Mohamed, Sulaiman Kho Kheng Fuei, Mohd Ashrof Adrin Kamarul and Muhammad Izzat Fauzan.
The defence team, lead by Tan Sri Dr Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, includes Harvinderjit Singh, Datuk R. Krishnan, Farhan Read, Rahmat Hazlan, Muhammad Farhan Shafee and Syahirah Hanapiah.”, reported The Star Online.
