The Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, has insisted there was no wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal and instead blamed a “problematic business model” for the billions of dollars that went missing from a government investment fund. Najib, who is seeking re-election in the Malaysian elections on 9 May, used a rare international interview to downplay the scandal and emphasise his own innocence – but conceded that “mistakes were made”. 1MDB: The inside story of the world’s biggest financial scandal | Randeep Ramesh Read more1MDB became one of the biggest corruption cases in the world when it emerged in 2015 that at least $3.5bn had been stolen from the Najib-run fund. Almost $700m was alleged to have been siphoned off into Najib’s personal bank accounts, a charge he denies. The election battle between Najib and Mahathir is particularly personal, as Najib was Mahathir’s former protege.

Source: The Guardian April 26, 2018 12:45 UTC