Health

Jailed ex-Malaysian PM Najib admitted to hospital

Bangkok, Sep 4 (EFE).- Former Malaysian premier Najib Razak, currently serving a 12-year prison sentence, has been admitted to a hospital in Kuala Lumpur, his spokesman reported on Sunday.

“He is currently being treated at Hospital Kuala Lumpur,” Muhamad Mukhlis Maghribi told local media outlets.

“I wish to thank prison authorities and Hospital Kuala Lumpur staff for the cooperation and help given,” he said.

Maghribi did not give further details about Najib’s condition, but anonymous sources told the Star newspaper that he was receiving treatment for an undisclosed health scare he suffered in prison.

Najib’s admission to hospital comes three days after his wife, Rosmah Mansor, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for taking bribes, and 12 days after he was given a 12-year jail sentence for corruption.

On August 23, the Federal Court of Malaysia found him guilty of misappropriating millions from the country’s state fund, 1MDB.

The ex-prime minister, who ruled from April 2009 to May 2018, pleaded not guilty to the 1MDB accusations, as well as abuse of power and trust, and money laundering over the diversion of millions to his private accounts.

Najib, 69, faces three other trials and dozens of charges in this corruption case, which involved former Goldman Sachs bankers accused of taking bribes and laundering billions of dollars in 1MDB, according to a US judicial investigation.

Among other things, former employees of Goldman Sachs financed the production of Hollywood films such as “The Wolf of Wall Street” and purchased jewelry, luxury real estate, and even a painting by Jean-Michael Basquiat for $51 million.

The 1MDB corruption came to light in 2015, when a newspaper investigation exposed the multi-million dollar embezzlement from the state fund to private accounts owned to Najib, who was the fund’s founder.

Najib, the first Malaysian prime minister to be imprisoned, is the son of one of Malaysia’s founding fathers, Abdul Rakaza Hussein. He served as prime minister between 19970 and 1976.EFE

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