Malaysia ex-PM Najib strikes from luxurious way of life to lockup

Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak speaks throughout an interview with Reuters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia March 4, 2020. REUTERS/Lim Huey Teng/File Photograph

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 (Reuters) – Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s new jail lodgings could also be lower than an hour’s drive from his mansion in Kuala Lumpur’s prosperous Bukit Tunku neighbourhood, however it’s a world away from the posh he’s used to.

Najib misplaced his last attraction on a 12-year jail sentence for corruption on Tuesday, and was taken below heavy safety to the nation’s largest jailhouse in Kajang – a sprawling complicated southeast of the capital that holds as much as 5,000 prisoners and features a girls’s facility .

First convicted in July 2020, Najib had been out on bail pending appeals. The nation’s prime court docket upheld his responsible verdict over felony breach of belief, abuse of energy, and cash laundering expenses for illegally receiving about $10 million from a former unit of state fund 1Malaysia Growth Berhad (1MDB).

The son of Malaysia’s second prime minister, Najib held the premiership from 2009 to 2018, when public anger over the multi-billion greenback graft scandal at 1MDB introduced election defeat.

Having been golf buddies with U.S. presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump and different world leaders, the British-educated son of Malay the Aristocracy will now depend murderers and drug traffickers amongst his fellow inmates in Kajang.

One in all them, Azilah Hadri, was a member of Najib’s safety element earlier than he was convicted of homicide for the 2006 killing of Mongolian mannequin Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Azilah is at present on loss of life row, whereas a fellow policeman who was convicted together with him sought sanctuary in Australia, the place he stays.

In a 2019 court docket submitting searching for to put aside his conviction, Azilah accused Najib of ordering the homicide, a declare the ex-premier denied. The Federal Court docket rejected Azilah’s software in 2020.

The Prisons Division didn’t reply to an emailed request for touch upon what situations Najib will face in jail. On Fb, it denied as faux information a submit by one other person saying that the prisons offered particular privileges for “VIP inmates” resembling televisions and air-conditioning.

In any other case, rights teams say Malaysian prisons undergo from overcrowding, poor hygiene, and lack of medical amenities, with infectious illnesses resembling tuberculosis and scabies widespread.

Opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim, who spent a complete of eight years incarcerated at one other Malaysian jail, has mentioned he skilled inhumane and degrading situations, together with being served rotten fish “on a regular basis”, in response to media stories.

Nonetheless, Najib’s former deputy prime minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, advised parliament in 2016 that Anwar obtained privileges primarily based on medical recommendation, together with a customized hospital mattress, a desk, sizzling showers, and a particular weight loss program.

Anwar was additionally given entry to the jail library, obtained common guests, and was allowed to go away for hospital remedies and to attend trial, in response to Ahmad Zahid.

Anwar was jailed twice on corruption and sodomy expenses, which he maintains had been politically motivated. He was pardoned by the king and launched days after Najib’s election defeat in 2018.

MORE CASES

The one occasions that Najib is prone to go away Kajang, are when he’s escorted to court docket to attend hearings in 4 different instances associated to corruption at 1MDB and different authorities businesses.

U.S. and Malaysian authorities say over $4.5 billion was stolen.

Malaysian investigators say they traced greater than $1 billion to Najib’s financial institution accounts, however he has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not responsible to all expenses.

The opulent way of life of Najib and his household got here to mild with the invention of about $275 million price of money, jewelry, and different luxurious items in residences utilized by Najib and his household.

Najib’s spouse, Rosmah Mansor, has pleaded not responsible in a corruption case unrelated to 1MDB. The court docket is ready to ship its verdict in her trial on Sept. 1.

($1 = 4.4800 ringgit)

Writing by Rozanna Latiff; Modifying by Simon Cameron-Moore

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.