Malaysia ex-PM found guilty in state funds scandal

Global News Podcast

BBC

Daily News, News

4.2 • 7.8K Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Former Malaysian PM Najib Razak has been convicted of abuse of power and money laundering in the biggest case to emerge from the 1MDB state fund scandal. The seventy-two year old, who is already in jail for other charges linked to 1MDB, is sentenced to a further 15 years. His lawyer says he will appeal.

Also: there have been demonstrations outside the Delhi High Court against the decision to suspend a life sentence for rape imposed on a former governing party official, Kuldeep Sengar; heavy rain storms across large parts of California have triggered floods and mudslides and left at least three people dead; President Zelensky says he'll meet President Trump this Sunday to discuss the latest peace plan for Ukraine; and hopes for finding a treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:05.8	This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service.
0:11.6	I'm Valerie Sanderson, and at 1600 hours GMT on Friday the 26th of December, these are our main stories.
0:19.2	Malaysia's former Prime Minister has been sentenced to 15
0:22.0	years in prison over his involvement in one of the world's biggest corruption scandals.
0:27.0	Demonstrations are held outside Delhi's high court against the decision to suspend a former
0:32.4	governing party official's life sentence for rape.
0:43.0	Also in this podcast, heavy rainstorms across large parts of California have triggered floods and mudslides and left at least three people dead.
0:47.1	President Zelensky says he'll meet Donald Trump on Sunday to discuss ways to end Ukraine's war
0:52.3	with Russia and...
0:53.6	I've not seen so much hope in Alzheimer's disease research than I do right now.
0:58.2	So I'm really hopeful that we'll see meaningful change in my lifetime.
1:01.0	And the prospect of life-changing treatment for Alzheimer's disease.
1:10.0	The one MDB corruption scandal in Malaysia, which involved siphoning off huge sums from the state-owned wealth fund, made headlines around the world when it came to light a decade ago.
1:20.8	Now, the former Malaysian Prime Minister, Najip Razak, has been found guilty of money laundering and abusing his power to plunder the state
1:29.1	funds. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He's already serving six years for a separate case
1:35.3	over the multi-billion dollar embezzlement from the state investment scheme. His lawyer says
1:40.7	Mr Najib will appeal. A correspondent in Southeast Asia, Surinjanah Tuari, has been following the case.
1:47.5	Yeah, he's been found guilty of abuse of power and money laundering.
1:52.4	Four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering.
1:57.6	Now, you may remember the one MDB scandal. He has been accused of redirecting
2:04.6	funds from a state fund that he actually founded back in 2009 into his personal bank account. Of course,
	...

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