AFTER delays, the first of Najib Razak’s trials for crimes related to 1Malaysia Development Bhd is set to begin tomorrow, making him the first former Malaysian prime minister to join a long list of Asian leaders indicted for abuse of power following a fall from power.
Tomorrow, Najib faces three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money laundering, and one count of power abuse, over sums amounting to RM42 million of funds belonging to SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary.
The case was scheduled to go on trial on February 12 until March 29, but was twice postponed by the Court of Appeal on February 11 and on March 21, following appeals by the defence on interlocutory matters
If found guilty, the former Umno president could go to jail for up to 20 years and pay a fine of at least five times the amount involved in the case.
The RM42 million he is accused of laundering is from a RM4 billion government guarantee for loans provided by the Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP) to SRC International.
He faces three more charges also related to SRC International, whereby Najib will be separately tried for laundering RM47 million.
While some have called the the trial the “mother of all legal battles in Malaysian history”, the trial and imprisonment of a former leader is nothing new in Asia.
Sukarno, Indonesia’s first president, was deposed by a military coup in 1965 and died while under house arrest in 1970. His successor, Suharto, held office for 31 years and was put under house arrest in 2000. Prosecutors wanted to try him for embezzling US$571 million but were unable to due to his illness.
In Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted as prime minister in a 2006 coup and fled the country two years later. The billionaire businessman was convicted in Thailand on corruption charges and is now living in exile.
His sister, Yingluck became prime minister in 2011 and was removed in a coup three years later. She fled the country in 2017 before she was convicted in absentia for abuse of power.
In the Phillipines, former actor and president Joseph Estrada became the first Asian leader to be impeached in 2001 and was sentenced six years later to life imprisonment for stealing US$80 million from the government.
Estrada was however pardoned by his former vice-president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who herself was arrested after she stepped down as president in 2010.
Several criminal charges were filed against her, including electoral fraud and bribery, but she was acquitted by the court in 2016 and resumed her political career.
Her successor, Benigno Aquino was indicted last year in a US$1.35 billion criminal case for failing to get congressional approval to use state funds for government projects.
Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos was never indicted after fleeing the country to Hawaii in 1986 following a failed impeachment the year before. Marcos was said to have embezzled US$10 billion in the two decades he was in power.
In South Korea, former army general and president Chun Doo-hwan was sentenced to death in 1996 for his role in a popular uprising in the city of Gwangju in 1980 that resulted in 600 deaths. He was later pardoned.
Roh Tae-woo, also a former army general, was convicted in 1996 of treason, mutiny and corruption for his involvement in a coup in 1979 and a 1980 uprising. He was also later pardoned.
In 2015, South Korea’s first female prime minister Han Myeong-Sook jailed two years for accepting 880 million won (US$760,000) in illicit funds.
Last year, another former president Lee Myung-bak was convicted for bribery and embezzlement and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
Lee’s successor, Park Geun-hye, was fined and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for bribery and abuse of power after being ousted in 2017 over a nationwide corruption scandal that prompted massive street protests.
In Taiwan, former president Lee Teng-hui, who served between 1998 to 2000, was indicted in 2011 on graft and money-laundering charges and accused of embezzling US$7.79 million in public funds. He was later cleared of the charges.
Lee’s successor, Chen Shui-bian was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2011. He was released on parol in 2015 due to ailing condition.
Najib, meanwhile, has to answer a total of 42 charges related to 1MDB and its former joint venture partner, International Petroleum Investment Company, including a a charge of tampering with the audit report on a probe into the 1MDB affair. – April 2, 2019.
THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT
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