A Malaysian court made a big-time decision about fifteen years after the start of 1MDB fund: six corruption charges against Najib Razak and Irwan Serigar Abdullah are now dropped (but not fully cleared)
The charges were about 6.6 billion ringgit of govt money; which is connected to a deal between 1MDB and Abu Dhabiʼs investment group. Both men always said they didnt do anything wrong. The court made its choice because of slow process and missing papers — thats what their lawyers tell us
About 4.5 billion dollars disappeared from 1MDB between 09 and 14; investigators from Malaysia and US tracked money all over the world. Najib who started 1MDB when he was in charge is now in jail: he got six years (half of first term) for other stuff from this mess. Last month he said sorry but still claims he didnt know about bad money moves
The case drop might affect how people see PM Anwar Ibrahimʼs anti-bad-stuff work (he got the job couple years ago). His team says theyll make new house-arrest rules next year — but they say its not just for Najib and other big-names in jail. Najib wants to finish his time at home and says the king agreed to it
I apologize for any shortcomings in handling the 1MDB issue