Abridged story from The New York Times :
Just a few months ago, the political machine of Malaysia led by Najib Razak appeared so indestructible that a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal seemed unlikely to derail it. The end came so quickly, so completely, that even his opponents were shocked.
For nearly a decade, Mr. Najib had unfettered control of his nation’s courts and coffers. His party had thrived by unfailingly delivering huge cash handouts at election time. The media was at his disposal; journalists he didn’t like, he shut down. Political foes were shoved into prison.
Mr. Najib enjoyed the friendship of big guys like President Trump. But his authority suddenly evaporated in May 9 elections led by 92-year-old former Mahathir Mohamad.
He became so quickly vulnerable to criminal charges at home, as well as by a reinvigorated effort of the US Justice Department as it pursues billions of dollars missing from 1Malaysia Development Fund.
The details released from that investigation in the past three years painted a lurid picture of a Malaysian leader and his family members and friends living high on diverted public money.
Prosecutors say that hundreds of millions of dollars missing fund appeared in Mr. Najib’s personal account and was spent on luxury items, including a 22-carat pink diamond necklace, worth $27.3 million, for his wife. In all some $7.5 billion was stolen from the fund, prosecutors say and spent on paintings by Monet, Van Gogh and Warhol and others worth over $200 million; on luxury real estate in the United States; and even on a megayacht for a family friend, Jho Low, who reveled in his Hollywood connections.
Mr. Najib’s stepdaughter, Azrene Ahmad, took to Instagram on Friday with an emotional condemnation of him and her mother, Rosmah Mansor, who had become widely known for piling up designer labels, garlands of jewelry and a multimillion-dollar handbag collection that more than rivaled the shoe fetish of Imelda Marcos of the Philippines.
Ms. Azrene describing how she had “witnessed many trespasses, deals and handshakes these two made for the benefit of power and to fuel their appetite for greed.”
She wrote about numerous offshore accounts opened to launder money out of the country for their personal spending cataloging accusations against them. “The steel safes full of jewels, precious stones and cash amassed,” she saw.
Mr. Najib’s brother, Nazir Razak joined hands to his brother’s ouster saying, “Malaysia needs major recalibration.” As he fall even the state-linked news media, which had spent years writing slavish articles describing Mr. Najib’s wisdom and Ms. Rosmah’s charitable ventures, dropped the multiple honorifics that once preceded his name.
After his defeat, Mr. Najib in a Twitter message apologized for mistakes although he maintained, “the best interests of Malaysia and its people will always be my first priority.”
The saga of Najib Razak is one of astonishing insatiability and unaccountability. And it is an account of a political party – the United Malays National Organization, which Mr. Najib led – that teethed on graft and patronage and collapsed under the weight of its own immoderation.
Donald Greenlees, an authority on Southeast Asia at Australian National University said, “For a long time, elites across the
region have enjoyed a culture of impunity.” He further said, “There is no doubt that the decades of mostly one-party rule, the capture of state institutions, particularly the judiciary, and the taming of the media led Najib to believe he was untouchable.”
Mr. Najib’s downfall was a vanishingly rare event in a region where democracy has retreated in recent years. In Malaysia, as in other places across Southeast Asia, elections had been deployed only to legitimize those in power. Yet without a single shot fired or a threat of a coup uttered, Mr. Najib was toppled. “The day I left home I left you a warning,” Ms. Azrene, his stepdaughter, wrote on Instagram. “There will come a of reckoning when the people will punish you for your trespasses on them. There will come a day when God will punish you for your trespasses, the very people you swore to protect.”
The Flawed Heir
Coming from a family which gave the second and third Prime Minister of Malaysia
Mr. Najib’s pedigree was impeccable and from an early age he seemed destined in his thinking to lead the country as his birthright.
French investigators are still examining whether Mr. Najib, during his time as defense minister, might have personally profited from around $130 million in kickbacks related to a French submarines deal. Before being killed, a Mongolian woman and wife of one of his advisers claimed she was owed half a million dollars for brokering that deal.
The biggest scandal exploded in 2015 when reports of missing billions of dollars surfaced from 1Malaysia Development Fund. In 2016, the United States Justice Department made the disclosure that a person it referred to as a Malaysian official had siphoned $731 million from 1MDB and privately confirmed Mr. Najib was that Malaysian official.
The Justice Department’s accusations continued saying a total of $4.5 billion in 1MDB funds was laundered through American banks, enriching Mr. Najib, his family and friends, prosecutors said.
It said $250 million went to buy a megayacht, complete with a helicopter pad and movie theater, built for Mr Low a financier friend of Mr. Najib’s stepson, Riza Aziz. Federal prosecutors said he used 1MDB funds to buy the actor Leonardo DiCaprio a $3.2 million Picasso painting for his birthday. The Australian model Miranda Kerr received $8 million in jewelry. Both have returned the gifts.
Mr. Najib explained that $681 million deposited in his personal bank account was a gift from a Saudi patron. In 2015, he fired Malaysia’s attorney general when he got enough evidence to bring charge against him. Subsequent Malaysian government investigations cleared Mr. Najib of any wrongdoing.
The Malaysian political establishment wondered how the son of a famously ascetic prime minister had grown so venal and careless.
Blame the Wife
As the public grew angrier his wife Ms. Rosmah became a frequent target of public ire. Her habit of taking chartered shopping expeditions to Europe and Australia, presumably at the expense of Malaysian taxpayers, became social-media fodder. Her Hermès Birkin handbag collection, one broker said, was worth at least $10 million.
Rosmah was vilified as the major partner in the corruption and scandals associated with the prime minister. In 2015, when Mr. Najib’s and Ms. Rosmah’s daughter married the nephew of President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, guests were astonished by their lavish wedding celebrations.
Mr. Mahathir, who attended one party, recalled seeing soldiers lugging at least 17 trunks loaded with luxury gifts for the guests. “I had never seen that, even at royal weddings,” he said in an interview with The New York Times in 2016.
Mr. Najib was called the “Man of Steal” by Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, one of Malaysia’s top cartoonists, who caricatured Ms. Rosmah with a giant diamond ring on her plump finger. Mr. Zulkiflee, who is known by the pen name Zunar, was charged with nine counts of sedition and still could face up to 43 years in prison.
The allegations of corruption include missing of huge farm subsidy to the tune of around $750 million. Mr. Najib oversaw that program.
Failed Containment
Mr. Najib seemed curiously removed from reality. With huge bill boards for election campaign he believed Malaysian voters were supposed to acquiesce to whatever deal he had on offer. Najib believed ‘cash is king.’
He had predicted his governing coalition would do even better in this month’s elections than it had in 2013. His information minister boasted saying the United Malays National Organization, or UMNO, would win easily. He said his party had access to a trove of government data on Malaysian voters they have it all at their fingertips.
In the final months of the campaign, Mr. Najib fell back on tried-and-true money politics. The day before the election, he promised Malaysians 26 years and younger would not have to pay income tax if his coalition prevailed. Earlier, he offered significant pay raises to civil servants, who are mostly ethnically Malay rather than from Malaysia’s Chinese or Indian minorities. That has always been his style.
Other tactics were more iron-fisted. Shortly before campaigning began, his party pushed through a so-called fake news law that was the first used by Mr. Trump to discredit media report. His government also designed a broad gerrymandering scheme that diminished the impact of minorities who were unlikely to vote for him.
On Sunday, Mr. Najib and Ms. Rosmah were still secluded in their mansion in Kuala Lumpur. A bodyguard at their home, who asked not to be identified in the press, said the stream of confidants who once knocked at their door had stopped. Even their housekeeper, he said, had deserted them.
Just a few months ago, the political machine of Malaysia led by Najib Razak appeared so indestructible that a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal seemed unlikely to derail it. The end came so quickly, so completely, that even his opponents were shocked.
For nearly a decade, Mr. Najib had unfettered control of his nation’s courts and coffers. His party had thrived by unfailingly delivering huge cash handouts at election time. The media was at his disposal; journalists he didn’t like, he shut down. Political foes were shoved into prison.
Mr. Najib enjoyed the friendship of big guys like President Trump. But his authority suddenly evaporated in May 9 elections led by 92-year-old former Mahathir Mohamad.
He became so quickly vulnerable to criminal charges at home, as well as by a reinvigorated effort of the US Justice Department as it pursues billions of dollars missing from 1Malaysia Development Fund.
The details released from that investigation in the past three years painted a lurid picture of a Malaysian leader and his family members and friends living high on diverted public money.
Prosecutors say that hundreds of millions of dollars missing fund appeared in Mr. Najib’s personal account and was spent on luxury items, including a 22-carat pink diamond necklace, worth $27.3 million, for his wife. In all some $7.5 billion was stolen from the fund, prosecutors say and spent on paintings by Monet, Van Gogh and Warhol and others worth over $200 million; on luxury real estate in the United States; and even on a megayacht for a family friend, Jho Low, who reveled in his Hollywood connections.
Mr. Najib’s stepdaughter, Azrene Ahmad, took to Instagram on Friday with an emotional condemnation of him and her mother, Rosmah Mansor, who had become widely known for piling up designer labels, garlands of jewelry and a multimillion-dollar handbag collection that more than rivaled the shoe fetish of Imelda Marcos of the Philippines.
Ms. Azrene describing how she had “witnessed many trespasses, deals and handshakes these two made for the benefit of power and to fuel their appetite for greed.”
She wrote about numerous offshore accounts opened to launder money out of the country for their personal spending cataloging accusations against them. “The steel safes full of jewels, precious stones and cash amassed,” she saw.
Mr. Najib’s brother, Nazir Razak joined hands to his brother’s ouster saying, “Malaysia needs major recalibration.” As he fall even the state-linked news media, which had spent years writing slavish articles describing Mr. Najib’s wisdom and Ms. Rosmah’s charitable ventures, dropped the multiple honorifics that once preceded his name.
After his defeat, Mr. Najib in a Twitter message apologized for mistakes although he maintained, “the best interests of Malaysia and its people will always be my first priority.”
The saga of Najib Razak is one of astonishing insatiability and unaccountability. And it is an account of a political party – the United Malays National Organization, which Mr. Najib led – that teethed on graft and patronage and collapsed under the weight of its own immoderation.
Donald Greenlees, an authority on Southeast Asia at Australian National University said, “For a long time, elites across the
region have enjoyed a culture of impunity.” He further said, “There is no doubt that the decades of mostly one-party rule, the capture of state institutions, particularly the judiciary, and the taming of the media led Najib to believe he was untouchable.”
Mr. Najib’s downfall was a vanishingly rare event in a region where democracy has retreated in recent years. In Malaysia, as in other places across Southeast Asia, elections had been deployed only to legitimize those in power. Yet without a single shot fired or a threat of a coup uttered, Mr. Najib was toppled. “The day I left home I left you a warning,” Ms. Azrene, his stepdaughter, wrote on Instagram. “There will come a of reckoning when the people will punish you for your trespasses on them. There will come a day when God will punish you for your trespasses, the very people you swore to protect.”
The Flawed Heir
Coming from a family which gave the second and third Prime Minister of Malaysia
Mr. Najib’s pedigree was impeccable and from an early age he seemed destined in his thinking to lead the country as his birthright.
French investigators are still examining whether Mr. Najib, during his time as defense minister, might have personally profited from around $130 million in kickbacks related to a French submarines deal. Before being killed, a Mongolian woman and wife of one of his advisers claimed she was owed half a million dollars for brokering that deal.
The biggest scandal exploded in 2015 when reports of missing billions of dollars surfaced from 1Malaysia Development Fund. In 2016, the United States Justice Department made the disclosure that a person it referred to as a Malaysian official had siphoned $731 million from 1MDB and privately confirmed Mr. Najib was that Malaysian official.
The Justice Department’s accusations continued saying a total of $4.5 billion in 1MDB funds was laundered through American banks, enriching Mr. Najib, his family and friends, prosecutors said.
It said $250 million went to buy a megayacht, complete with a helicopter pad and movie theater, built for Mr Low a financier friend of Mr. Najib’s stepson, Riza Aziz. Federal prosecutors said he used 1MDB funds to buy the actor Leonardo DiCaprio a $3.2 million Picasso painting for his birthday. The Australian model Miranda Kerr received $8 million in jewelry. Both have returned the gifts.
Mr. Najib explained that $681 million deposited in his personal bank account was a gift from a Saudi patron. In 2015, he fired Malaysia’s attorney general when he got enough evidence to bring charge against him. Subsequent Malaysian government investigations cleared Mr. Najib of any wrongdoing.
The Malaysian political establishment wondered how the son of a famously ascetic prime minister had grown so venal and careless.
Blame the Wife
As the public grew angrier his wife Ms. Rosmah became a frequent target of public ire. Her habit of taking chartered shopping expeditions to Europe and Australia, presumably at the expense of Malaysian taxpayers, became social-media fodder. Her Hermès Birkin handbag collection, one broker said, was worth at least $10 million.
Rosmah was vilified as the major partner in the corruption and scandals associated with the prime minister. In 2015, when Mr. Najib’s and Ms. Rosmah’s daughter married the nephew of President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, guests were astonished by their lavish wedding celebrations.
Mr. Mahathir, who attended one party, recalled seeing soldiers lugging at least 17 trunks loaded with luxury gifts for the guests. “I had never seen that, even at royal weddings,” he said in an interview with The New York Times in 2016.
Mr. Najib was called the “Man of Steal” by Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, one of Malaysia’s top cartoonists, who caricatured Ms. Rosmah with a giant diamond ring on her plump finger. Mr. Zulkiflee, who is known by the pen name Zunar, was charged with nine counts of sedition and still could face up to 43 years in prison.
The allegations of corruption include missing of huge farm subsidy to the tune of around $750 million. Mr. Najib oversaw that program.
Failed Containment
Mr. Najib seemed curiously removed from reality. With huge bill boards for election campaign he believed Malaysian voters were supposed to acquiesce to whatever deal he had on offer. Najib believed ‘cash is king.’
He had predicted his governing coalition would do even better in this month’s elections than it had in 2013. His information minister boasted saying the United Malays National Organization, or UMNO, would win easily. He said his party had access to a trove of government data on Malaysian voters they have it all at their fingertips.
In the final months of the campaign, Mr. Najib fell back on tried-and-true money politics. The day before the election, he promised Malaysians 26 years and younger would not have to pay income tax if his coalition prevailed. Earlier, he offered significant pay raises to civil servants, who are mostly ethnically Malay rather than from Malaysia’s Chinese or Indian minorities. That has always been his style.
Other tactics were more iron-fisted. Shortly before campaigning began, his party pushed through a so-called fake news law that was the first used by Mr. Trump to discredit media report. His government also designed a broad gerrymandering scheme that diminished the impact of minorities who were unlikely to vote for him.
On Sunday, Mr. Najib and Ms. Rosmah were still secluded in their mansion in Kuala Lumpur. A bodyguard at their home, who asked not to be identified in the press, said the stream of confidants who once knocked at their door had stopped. Even their housekeeper, he said, had deserted them.
