Malaysia’s imprisoned former prime minister Najib is arguing petition for house arrest

Last year, Malaysia’s jailed former leader, Najib Razak, faced graft charges for allegedly accepting more than US$500 million in bribes. He will start his defense this week and ask to serve the rest of his sentence while being locked up at home.

The former prime minister has already served six years in prison for corruption stemming from the theft of funds from the sovereign wealth fund 1MDB. The financial crisis that cost him the election in 2018 has also led to several other charges against him.

The charges against him include 21 counts of money laundering and four counts of power abuse related to bribes worth 2.27 billion ringgit (US$510 million). His defense will begin at the High Court on Monday.

Tanore Finance Corp is involved in the case. The US government claims that 1MDB used Tanore Finance Corp to steal money.

In October, Najib said he was sorry that the 1MDB crisis happened during his time in office, but he insisted he didn’t know about any illegal transfers from the state fund that is no longer in existence.

If found guilty, Najib could face up to 20 years in prison and a significant fine for each count of abuse of power.

Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Najib’s main lawyer, said that they were “more determined” than ever to fight the case.