Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio. I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

The pandemic hasn't really shaken the banking industry since the financial crisis regulators

have shorted up well, but that has driven a rise in what are called shadow banks. We

examine a grand shift to a less regulated end of the industry.

And in the Chinese province of Yunnan, wild mushroom picking is big business. Local

mushrooms might make it to South Korea, Japan, even Europe. We visit a market where

business is brisk even though the pandemic has driven prices down.

But first, yesterday the former Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak was sentenced to 12

years in jail after a court found him guilty in the first of several corruption trials.

Did I predict the result? I must be some sort of susser if I can predict the result.

But as always, you hope for the best, but you prepare for the worst.

He was convicted on seven counts of abuse of power, breach of trust and money laundering

for his role in the 1MDB corruption scandal, for which he denies all wrongdoing.

The state-owned 1MDB Wealth Fund was set up in 2009 when he was Prime Minister to

raise funds for the country's development and to help some of its poorest people.

But Malaysian and American authorities say that $4.5 billion was plundered from the

fund and spent on, among many other things, a yacht, a jet, and an Oscar trophy that

wants belonged to Marlon Brando.

The scandal goes beyond just the former Prime Minister. Last week, American bank Golden

Sachs reached a $3.9 billion settlement with the Malaysian government for its role in

raising $6.5 billion for the scheme, having been charged with misleading investors.

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