Najib Razak, a former Malaysian prime minister who is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence, was cleared by a Malaysian court on Friday of a corruption charge.
Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan of the High Court ruled that state prosecutors had not provided enough proof to support their claim that Najib had altered with an official audit report on the scandal-plagued state fund 1MDB for his own gain.
Arul Kanda Kandasamy, the former head of 1MDB, was similarly freed from charges as Najib’s co-accused.
“The initial defendant (Arul Kanda) is released and cleared of the charge. The second defendant (Najib) is released and cleared of the charge levelled against him “The courtroom’s judge said.
The indictment, which if proven would have resulted in up to 20 years in prison, centred on claims that Najib used his position to direct the alteration of a report on the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund by the government’s official audit committee in February 2016.
According to the allegation, the modifications were made in order to absolve him of all criminal responsibility.
