KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 (Reuters) – Jailed former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has filed an appeal against his conviction last week on corruption charges related to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, which saw him sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison, his lawyer said on Tuesday.
Najib, 72, has been in jail since 2022 on graft offences linked to allegations that about $4.5 billion was stolen from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state fund he co-founded while serving as premier in 2009.
U.S. and Malaysian investigators have said more than $1 billion of the misappropriated funds made their way into accounts linked to Najib, who has consistently denied wrongdoing.
On December 26, Najib was found guilty of four charges of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering for illegally receiving about 2.3 billion ringgit ($567.90 million) originating from 1MDB, in the biggest trial he has faced.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and slapped with a record fine of nearly $3 billion. The court ordered Najib to begin serving the additional sentence after his current six-year jail term ends in 2028, though the term may be reduced by one-third for good behaviour.
Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Farhan Shafee confirmed in a brief text message that an appeal had been filed on Monday night against both the verdict and the sentence.
Najib has also filed an appeal against a separate court ruling this month denying his bid to serve the remainder of his current prison term under house arrest, media reports said.
Both court decisions have stoked tensions within Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ruling alliance, with some members of Najib’s party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), expressing disappointment with the verdicts.
UMNO campaigned against Anwar in a 2022 election but joined his coalition to form a government after the poll resulted in a hung parliament. Anwar last week urged calm, calling on parties to accept the court’s decisions with “full patience and wisdom”.
($1 = 4.0500 ringgit)
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by David Stanway)
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