KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysian prosecutors on Thursday charged former Prime Minister Najib Razak with abuse of power and money laundering over hundreds of millions of dollars of funds received in his personal bank account.
They charged Najib with four counts of abuse of power regarding an amount of 2.3 billion ringgit ($556.23 million) in state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Prosecutors also charged him with 21 counts of money laundering. Najib, who was arrested on Wednesday, pleaded not guilty to all 25 charges.
Charges have piled up on Najib since he unexpectedly lost a general election in May to Mahathir Mohamad, who reopened the 1MDB investigation.
Prosecutors said Najib used his position as prime minister, finance minister and chairman of 1MDB to obtain the funds between 2011 and 2014.
Meanwhile, The Star reported that Najib was later granted bail of RM3.5mil with two sureties. His lawyer requested for the bail to be paid in staggered payments, with RM1mil to be paid on Friday and another RM500,000 next week.
“Our bank downstairs (in court) takes half a day to count RM500,000, unlike our Indian money changers,” he said on Thursday.
Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi allowed the bail payments be made over a period, as long as it was settled by September 28.
