KUALA LUMPUR: The scale of Datuk Seri Najib Razak's offences in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal surpasses anything Atilla the Hun ever did, says presiding judge Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
In the full grounds of the High Court decision, Justice Sequerah wrote that the financial scandal that led to the charges being preferred against Najib was described in the global press as "the largest episode of kleptocracy in the world."
"The scale of the plunder that took place (financially speaking, of course) made Attila the Hun look like a choirboy by comparison," he said in the decision.
The long-awaited grounds of judgment, which ran 809 pages, was made available on Tuesday (June 16).
Justice Sequerah, who is now a Federal Court judge, convicted Najib on all 25 charges on Dec 26, 2025.
The judge also spoke on the trial's "chequered history", with the charges against Najib first preferred on Sept 20, 2018 at the Sessions Court. The case was later transferred to the High Court on Oct 31, 2018 but did not proceed due to several factors, including the ongoing SRC International trial at the same time.
"After what seemed like an eternity, the trial finally commenced on Aug 19, 2019," read the judgment.
However, as the world plunged into the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting Movement Control Order (MCO), the trial suffered with lost hearing dates and prolonged proceedings.
"The trial took a total of approximately six years to conclude. It has in all probability surpassed the length of any other trial in the annals of Malaysian court history, an unenviable record," Justice Sequerah added.
Najib was found guilty of four counts of using his position to obtain RM2.28bil gratification from 1MDB's funds and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same amount.
The abuse of power offences were allegedly committed at an AmIslamic Bank Bhd branch, Jalan Raja Chulan, Bukit Ceylon between Feb 24, 2011 and Dec 19, 2014.
Meanwhile, the money laundering offences were allegedly committed at the same location between March 22 and Aug 30, 2013.
Najib was sentenced to 15 years' jail and a RM11.387bil fine. Justice Sequerah ordered the former prime minister's jail term to begin in 2028 after his six-year prison sentence in the SRC International case.
