Graft verdict for Malaysia ex-leader a test of rule of law

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — After years of insisting on his innocence, former Malaysian leader Najib Razak learns his fate this week in his first corruption trial linked to one of the world’s biggest financial scandals — a verdict widely seen as a test for the rule of law five months after a new government took power.

Tuesday's ruling is being closely watched amid a stunning reversal of fortune for Najib’s Malay party, which returned to office as a key player in the new ruling alliance. The party’s return came less than two years after its shocking ouster in 2018 elections driven by public anger over the billion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund.

Najib faces a total of 42 charges — ranging from from abuse of power to money laundering — in five separate trials linked to the 1MDB fiasco. The once untouchable 67-year-old former prime minister and scion of one of Malaysia’s most prominent political families faces years in prison if convicted in the first trial alone.

“This decision is a test of the independence of Malaysia’s political institutions and the rule of law in a country that has seen this fraying in recent months,” said Bridget Welsh, honorary research associate at University of Nottingham Malaysia.

The verdict will put current Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin under public scrutiny, Welsh said. Muhyiddin was fired as Najib's deputy in 2016 for speaking out on the 1MDB scandal but is now beholden to Najib’s party for its support. Najib’s party is the biggest bloc in the current Malay nationalist alliance, which was formed in March after a political coup by Muhyiddin’s party toppled the former reformist government.

A new attorney general appointed by Muhyiddin has dismissed two high-profile corruption cases. Najib's stepson and “The Wolf of Wall Street” film...