Ex-Malaysian PM charged with abuse of power
Kuala Lumpur, July 4 : Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was charged on Wednesday in a court here for his alleged role in the 1MDB scandal, involving billions of dollars being embezzled from a government fund and fraudulently spent around the world.
He was charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of abuse of power in connection with funds from SRC International, a former subsidiary of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), reports Efe news.
The charges carry a maximum term of 20 years in prison. Najib, 64, was arrested on Tuesday at his residence in the capital, the 1MDB Task Force confirmed.
The former leader, who spent the night in prison, arrived to a media frenzy at the court early in the morning wearing a dark blue suit and a red and blue tie. His supporters were also waiting for him, holding placards reading "Respect civil rights #freenajib".
The arrest on Tuesday came following an investigation into how billions of dollars went missing from state fund 1MDB, which he founded.
The former leader has been accused of diverting around $681 million to his private accounts from 1MDB.
Najib has denied the allegations, saying the money was a donation from a Saudi prince, and he was cleared by Malaysian authorities while in power.
The case was reopened after Malaysia's change in government in May, and new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad banned his predecessor and wife Rosmah Mansor from leaving the country.
Najib and his wife have since testified before the anti-corruption commission. His stepson Riza Aziz also gave a statement at the commission on Tuesday.
Last week, Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Amar Singh said cash and luxury items taken in May from six properties linked to Najib are worth up to 1.1 billion ringgit ($273 million), describing it as the biggest seizure in Malaysian history.
Six other countries, including the US, Switzerland and Singapore, have opened judicial investigations into the 1MDB scandal.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
