Malaysian court acquits ex-premier Najib in 1MDB audit tempering

ANKARA (AA) – Malaysia's former Prime Minister Najib Razak was acquitted by a court on Friday in an audit report tampering trial, local media said.

The court also discharged and released former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) president and chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy in the same case.

Court of Appeal Judge Mohamed Zaini bin Mazlan, who presided over the case in the High Court, ruled that the prosecution failed to present evidence proving that Najib ordered the amendments in the audit report, The Vibes News reported.

Last year, Malaysia’s top court upheld Najib's conviction to send him to jail for 12 years in the infamous "1MDB scandal."

The scandal came to the limelight in 2015, when Najib was prime minister. He was accused of channeling $700 million from the company's fund – known as the 1MDB scandal.

The judge agreed with Najib’s prosecutor that there is no causal link between the amendments made in the first audit report and the purported alleged gratification, The Edge daily reported.

“There is no evidence to explicitly prove that the second accused (Najib) had directed the amendments made to exonerate him from civil and criminal liability. He was merely concerned that the report would be spun politically,” the judge was quoted as saying by the daily.

“I also observed that the items amended or taken out were known to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and openly discussed. Therefore, I find the presumption under Section 23 (2) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 could not apply as the prosecution had failed to prove gratification,” the judge said.

“He is therefore acquitted and discharged,” Zaini added.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid