This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The lawyer of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has been charged with money laundering by anti-corruption agents looking into how billions of dollars went missing from state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Muhammad Shafee is leading a defence team for Najib, who himself faces charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power at SRC International, a former 1MDB unit. Najib has denied any wrongdoing.

In charges read out at a court in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, he received proceeds from illegal activities worth 4.3m ringgit ($1.04m) from Najib’s personal bank account in September 2013 and another 5.2m ringgit ($1.26m) in February 2014.

Shafee pleaded not guilty to two counts of money laundering and another two counts of evading taxes by making false declaration of his income tax. “This is victimization,” Shafee told reporters. He was released on bail.



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The charges were brought by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) which is investigating alleged fraud and misappropriation at 1MDB, a fund founded by Najib.

1MDB is at the centre of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries, including the US, Switzerland and Singapore. A total of $4.5bn was misappropriated from 1MDB by high-level officials at the fund and their associates, according to the US Department of Justice.

Malaysia reopened the inquiry into 1MDB after Najib, who chaired the fund’s advisory board, was defeated by prime minister Mahathir Mohamad in a stunning election win in May.

Najib has pleaded not guilty to abuse of power and other charges arising the 1MDB investigation.

Mahathir has vowed to punish people responsible for the 1MDB scandal and also to get back all the misappropriated funds. Singapore returned 1MDB funds worth $11.1m last week, and Malaysia also got back a $250m superyacht.

Malaysia’s finance minister said on Thursday that recovery of the 1MDB assets was going much slower than expected. Malaysia “will be lucky if we get 30% back” from the 1MDB funds, Lim Guan Eng said at the CLSA Investors’ Forum in Hong Kong.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this article