3 d. ago Malaysian gets 12 years’ jail in Singapore for Caucasian ‘sugar daddy’ sextortion scam

A Singapore court has sentenced a 38-year-old Malaysian man to 12 years in prison and 15 strokes of the cane for posing online as a wealthy Caucasian “sugar daddy” and coercing women into sex while extorting money with threats to release explicit material. The man, Rajwant Singh Gill Narajan Singh, was convicted of two counts of cheating and one count each of extortion and attempted extortion involving two victims, identified in court documents as PW1 and PW2. “By his horrific and perverse...

Events

2 w. ago Najib’s new 1MDB verdict deepens Umno rifts, testing Malaysia’s unity government

The fresh prison sentence handed to disgraced former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has sharpened tensions inside Umno, with analysts warning the legal blow to the party’s former figurehead could fuel calls for a withdrawal from the coalition led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. On Friday, a Malaysian court sentenced Najib, 72, to a further 15 years in prison after finding him guilty on all 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering linked to the siphoning of 2.3 billion ringgit...

Politics

3 w. ago Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal: Najib found guilty on all 4 abuse of power charges

Malaysia’s jailed former prime minister Najib Razak was found guilty on all four counts of abuse of power in the final criminal case linked to the multibillion-dollar 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, following a seven-year trial. In convicting Najib of the four charges, Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah said the former leader had “abused the power and trust vested in him”. Rejecting Najib’s defence that he was misled or acted collectively, Sequerah ruled that the evidence showed he...

Events

3 w. ago Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal: Najib sentenced to 15 years in jail for abuse of power, money laundering

A Malaysian court on Friday sentenced jailed former prime minister Najib Razak to 15 years in prison after convicting him on all 25 charges linked to the plundering of billions of dollars from scandal-tainted state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). The High Court found Najib guilty of four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering, after taking account of his “direct role” in the siphoning of 2.3 billion ringgit (US$568 million) from the troubled sovereign wealth...

Events

3 w. ago Najib’s children lament Malaysian court ruling – ‘we thought he was coming home’

The children of ex-Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak have been yearning for their father to leave prison and the family to spend the New Year together. But their hopes were dashed this week after a court ruled against Najib’s application to return home under house arrest. In a five-minute video posted online shortly after the decision on Monday, Najib’s eldest son, Mohd Nizar Najib, said the family had gone to court prepared for both outcomes, but had quietly believed the long fight – based...

Society

3 w. ago Why Malaysian court ruling against Najib is dividing Anwar’s coalition

A court’s decision to keep former Malaysian leader Najib Razak behind bars has reopened fault lines between Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ruling coalition and Umno, the country’s once-dominant ruling party. The Kuala Lumpur High Court on Monday rejected Najib’s application to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest, ruling that a purported addendum to a royal clemency order “had no legal effect because it was never deliberated by the Pardons Board”. The decision meant the...

Events

3 w. ago Malaysian rapper Namewee acquitted of drug use charge after negative test

A Malaysian court on Monday granted rapper Namewee a full acquittal from his drug use charge after the prosecution presented a negative urine test in court. Namewee’s lawyer, Joshua Tay, confirmed the acquittal with This Week in Asia. Tay told the Kuala Lumpur magistrates’ court that since the pathology report was negative, there was no prospect of recharging his client, whose real name is Wee Meng Chee. “The appropriate order should be a discharge and acquittal,” Tay said. Magistrate S...

Events

3 w. ago Malaysian court blocks Najib’s bid for house arrest ahead of key 1MDB verdict

A Malaysian court on Monday dismissed former prime minister Najib Razak’s bid to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest, dealing a setback to his attempt to secure early release from jail. Najib, 72, is serving a reduced six-year sentence after receiving partial royal clemency earlier this year in the SRC International case, a former subsidiary linked to the scandal-ridden Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, in which he was convicted of abuse of power, criminal breach of...

Events