Ex-Malaysian PM Najib vows to ‘fight for justice’

Malaysia’s former prime minister Najib Razak on Thursday took to Facebook vowing to “confront allegations” of his involvement in a multi-billion-dollar corruption scandal “with grit.”

“By the permission of God, as I fought for the rights of the people, I will fight for justice for myself to prove I am innocent of these charges,” Najib wrote.

Najib pleaded not guilty Wednesday to three counts of criminal breach of trust and one charge of abuse of power related to a long-running graft investigation involving the state development fund 1MDB.

He was released on bail on Wednesday.

“Throughout my 42-year career, my struggle has always been for my people and my party. If this persecution is the price I have to pay for my struggle, for the sake of the nation’s prosperity, for the people’s welfare, I am prepared to go through this,” he wrote.

He said he will seek to clear himself through “a fair court process.”

Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the 64-year-old Najib, along with millions of dollars in potential fines.

The court set bail at one million ringgit (247,000 dollars) and Najib was forced to surrender his civilian and diplomatic passports.

Najib, who served as the country’s premier from 2009 to 2018, is accused of misappropriating some 4.5 billion dollars from 1MDB, including nearly 700 million dollars that were allegedly transferred into his personal bank account.

Between August 2011 and March 2015, Najib is accused of channelling 42 million ringgit (10 million dollars) from SRC International, a subsidiary of 1MDB, into his personal bank account.

At least five governments – including those of the United States, Switzerland, Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong – have opened investigations related to 1MDB.

U.S. Attorney-General Jeff Sessions has called the 1MDB scandal an example of “kleptocracy at its worst.”