Najib Razak: The verdict that sent Malaysia’s untouchable ex-PM to prison

BBC News:

Earlier this week, inside the huge, Islamically-styled Palace of Justice in Malaysia’s political capital Putrajaya, something remarkable happened.

In the dock stood a man of immense wealth and power, who, when he was prime minister, was quite literally untouchable.

Dato’ Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak – to give him his full title which denotes the high status he holds in Malaysian society – had challenged the judiciary for two years since his conviction and 12-year prison sentence over money laundering and abuses of power charges.

Just the night before his lawyers had filed a motion to disqualify Malaysia’s most senior judge, and the country’s first female chief justice, from hearing his final appeal.

Outside the court, Najib’s supporters gathered, protesting that he was not getting justice. Despite the 42 criminal charges filed against him, he remains popular and influential.

Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat was unmoved.

She ordered Najib’s lawyers to get on with any submissions they wanted to make. Then, after a break for lunch, flanked by the four other judges on the five-member panel, she read out the 15-page verdict.

She found Najib’s conviction and sentence sound and not excessive, and the complaints raised in his appeal to be devoid of merit.

“We agree that the defence is so inherently inconsistent and incredible that it does not raise a reasonable doubt on the prosecution’s case,” she said.

Najib fell back in his chair, looking stunned. Within a few hours, a man accustomed to celebrity treatment found himself in a plain prison cell.