Swissies moving around SE Asia today and returing. Took the"high road" through Russia, China and Burma to Bangladesh yesterday
Swiss AF SUI528 Falcon 900 en from Hanoi, Vietnam stopped in Yangon, Burma prior.
Returning to Bern, Switerland
Malaysia's Najib found guilty on all 7 charges in first 1MDB case
KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia's former Prime Minister Najib Razak was found guilty on Tuesday in his first corruption trial stemming from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal.
The Malaysian High Court found Najib guilty on all seven counts in connection with funds misappropriated from a subsidiary of the now-defunct state fund. The former leader, wearing a beige suit, listened as Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali explained his verdicts on a charge of abuse of power, three charges of criminal breach of trust and three charges of money laundering. Sentencing is still to come.
The charges pertain to Najib's alleged siphoning of 42 million ringgit ($9.8 million) of funds from 1MDB unit SRC International into his personal bank accounts. After this case, another 35 charges against the former prime minister are pending. Despite coronavirus concerns, a huge crowd of Najib supporters had gathered outside the heavily guarded court complex to hear the decision, which is bound to have major political implications. In a Facebook post on Monday night, Najib had said the proceedings were his chance to clear his name and vowed to appeal if found guilty. "I am ready," he wrote. The abuse of power and breach of trust charges carry maximum sentences of 20 years, along with lashing and fines. The money laundering charges allow for up to 15 years in prison and a fine of 5 million ringgit or five times the amount – whichever is higher.
The seven counts heard on Tuesday all stem from Najib's time as prime minister from 2009 to 2018. 1MDB, Najib's brainchild, was intended as a soverieign fund to promote economic development but instead ended up with over 55 billion ringgit in debt. Money from 1MDB is alleged to have been misappropriated by Najib and a few others – namely his stepson Riza Aziz and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low. At least $4.5 billion is thought to have been taken, and U.S. authorities say a range of assets were purchased using the stolen funds, including a superyacht and Picasso artwork. Najib, who celebrated his 67th birthday last week, maintains his innocence. But the scandal over the fund's mismanagement and the allegations of rampant corruption contributed to his defeat to Mahathir Mohamad's coalition in the 2018 election. After an internal coup forced Mahathir to resign earlier this year, however, current Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin took power in March with support from Najib's old party, the United Malays National Organization. This political dependency, coupled with graft cases that have fallen through recently, raised questions about the Muhyiddin government's resolve.
On the other hand, the government last Friday managed to extract a $3.9 billion settlement from Goldman Sachs. The U.S. investment bank had helped 1MDB with a series of bond issuances and was accused by Malaysian authorities of misleading investors. The bank settled the case in exchange for Malaysia dropping criminal charges.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Malaysia-in-transition/Malaysia-s-Najib-found-guilty-on-all-7-charges-in-first-1MDB-case