KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian prosecutors on Friday wrapped up their arguments against former premier Najib Razak’s final bid to overturn a 12-year jail sentence for corruption, saying he was aware that he had received funds from an “unlawful activity.”
Najib’s lawyers declined to present their case in court this week, citing insufficient time to prepare. They had submitted written arguments before the proceedings began.
It is unclear how the Federal Court will proceed when it resumes on Tuesday. It could potentially either deliver its verdict or set a new date for its decision.
Najib, 69, was convicted in July 2020 by a lower court for criminal breach of trust, abuse of power, and money laundering for illegally receiving about $10 million from a former unit of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Prosecutors have said some $4.5 billion were stolen from 1MDB — co-founded by Najib as premier in 2009 — in a wide-ranging scandal that has implicated officials and financial institutions around the world.
An appellate court last year upheld the guilty verdict against Najib but the former premier appealed again to the Federal Court, which began proceedings this week in what would be his final appeal.
Najib, who faces several trials over the allegations, has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His lawyers have argued in the lower courts that Najib was misled by 1MDB officials.
Najib “knew, or had reason to believe or had reasonable suspicion that the monies that he received in his bank accounts were proceeds from an unlawful activity,” lead prosecutor V. Sithambaram told the court.
Najib had replaced his legal team just three weeks before his appeal began on Monday.
After the prosecution wrapped up its arguments, Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat again asked Najib’s lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik to begin his submissions on Tuesday.
Hisyam declined.
Najib and Hisyam declined to comment after the day’s proceedings.
Malaysian prosecutors rest case against ex-PM Najib Razak in final 1MDB appeal
https://arab.news/27cqr
Malaysian prosecutors rest case against ex-PM Najib Razak in final 1MDB appeal
- Najib Razak’s lawyers declined to present their case in court this week, citing insufficient time to prepare
NATO strikes spending deal, but Spain exemption claim risks Trump ire
- NATO diplomats now fear that Spain’s position could undermine its carefully choreographed show of unity with Trump in The Hague, which already risks being overshadowed by the US decision to strike Iran
BRUSSELS, Belgium: NATO on Sunday signed off on a pledge to ramp up defense spending before its upcoming summit, but Madrid insisted it would not need to hit the five percent of GDP demanded by US President Donald Trump.
The claim by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez sets up a potential clash with Trump, who has pressured allies to commit to that headline figure when they meet for the two-day gathering starting on Tuesday in The Hague.
Spain had been the last holdout on a compromise deal that sees allies promise to reach 3.5 percent on core military needs over the next decade, and spend 1.5 percent on a looser category of “defense-related” expenditures such as infrastructure and cybersecurity.
Multiple diplomats at NATO said the agreement — set to be unveiled at the summit — had gone through with the approval of all 32 nations and that there was no exemption for Madrid.
But within minutes Sanchez came out saying he had struck an accord with NATO that would see his country keep respecting its commitments “without having to raise our defense spending to five percent of gross domestic product.”
“We understand the difficulty of the geopolitical context, fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries to increase their defense investment, if they so wish, but we are not going to do it,” he said.
NATO diplomats now fear that Spain’s position could undermine its carefully choreographed show of unity with Trump in The Hague, which already risks being overshadowed by the US decision to strike Iran.
“Not ok,” one diplomat said, on condition of anonymity.
Madrid’s claims came after Sanchez on Thursday threw a last-minute grenade into preparations for the gathering in the Netherlands by taking a strong stand against the agreement.
In a blistering letter to NATO chief Mark Rutte, Sanchez said that committing to a headline figure of five percent of GDP “would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive.”
That prompted a warning from Trump that “Spain has to pay what everybody else has to pay.”
“NATO is going to have to deal with Spain,” he told reporters on Friday, calling the country “notorious” for spending less on defense than other alliance members.
The outburst from Madrid’s center-left leader also sparked fury from other NATO members desperate to keep Trump — who has threatened not to protect allies spending too little — on their side.
The pledge is seen as key both to satisfying Trump and helping NATO build up the forces it needs to deter Russia.
After several days of wrangling involving Sanchez and Rutte, officials said Spain on Sunday signed off on the pledge.
Diplomats said that language around the spending pledge in the summit’s final declaration had been slightly softened from “we commit,” to “allies commit.”
They insisted the fundamentals of the deal remained intact and that it applied to Spain.
But government sources in Madrid said the linguistic tweak meant only those countries that opted-in were covered by the promise and that Rutte was set to send a letter to Sanchez saying that Spain will have “flexibility.”
Sanchez is facing a difficult balancing act of aligning with NATO allies and cajoling his junior coalition partner, the far-left alliance Sumar, which is hostile to increasing military spending.
Spain has been one of the lowest-spending NATO countries on defense in relative terms.
The country is only set to hit the alliance’s current target of two percent this year after a 10-billion-euro ($11.5 billion) injection.
UN chief warns of cycle of retaliation after US bombs Iran
- ‘The people of the region cannot endure another cycle of destruction,’ Guterres said Sunday
- IAEA chief noted that no one had been able to assess the underground damage at Fordo nuclear facility
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned Sunday against yet “another cycle of destruction” and retaliation following the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which he said marked a “perilous turn” in the region.
“I have repeatedly condemned any military escalation in the Middle East,” the secretary-general told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
“The people of the region cannot endure another cycle of destruction. And yet, we now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”
Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also called for restraint as he voiced fears over “potential widening” of the conflict.
“We have a window of opportunity to return to dialogue and diplomacy. If that window closes, violence and destruction could reach unthinkable levels and the global non-proliferation regime as we know it could crumble and fall,” Grossi said.
Speaking to the Security Council by video link, he said there were visible craters at Iran’s key Fordo nuclear facility, “indicating the use by the United States of America of ground-penetrating munitions.”
But Grossi noted that no one had been able to assess the underground damage at Fordo.
He added that “armed attacks on nuclear facilities should never take place and could result in radioactive releases with grave consequences within and beyond the boundaries of the State which has been attacked.”
Athens’ ancient theater closes for three-year restoration
ATHENS: For visitors to Athens, the ancient Odeon of Herod Atticus is the must-see theater at the foot of the Acropolis. Artists revere it for the majestic stage where legends have performed. And for the Greek capital’s residents it is the touchstone of their summer cultural calendar.
The Odeon of Herod Atticus recently opened the 70th season of the annual Athens Epidaurus Festival, a cherished annual tradition for many Greeks. But this edition marks the last before the theater that’s more than 18 centuries old shuts down for maintenance and restoration work that is expected to last at least three years.
While theater and dance grace its stage, music is its cornerstone. Renowned artists who have performed here include Luciano Pavarotti, Frank Sinatra, Coldplay, and Greece’s own Maria Callas.
Its closure will be a profound loss for spectators who have long enjoyed first-class performances under the stars in one of the world’s most iconic open-air theaters.
“When (people) think of the Athens cultural scene, everyone thinks of the festival and Herodion,” said Katerina Evangelatos, the festival’s artistic director since 2019, calling the theater by its commonly used Greek name. “It has become a synonym of the festival. It is the heart of the festival.”
Seven soldiers killed in clash with Al-Shabab terrorists
KAMPALA: At least seven Ugandan soldiers have been killed in Somalia, an army spokesperson said Sunday, part of the ongoing fight against the Al-Shabab terrorist group.
The soldiers were part of the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia, or AUSSOM, tasked with combating Al-Shabab.
Recent attacks have stoked fears of a terrorist resurgence in the Horn of Africa nation, especially coming as AUSSOM struggles with insufficient troops and funding shortfalls.
The losses came during a three-day siege over a town in the Lower Shabelle region, a Ugandan Defense Ministry statement said, adding the town was recaptured from Al-Shabab.
“Unfortunately, we lost seven soldiers during the battle,” said Ugandan People’s Defense Force spokesman Felix Kulayigye,
AUSSOM, which replaced the previous ATMIS deployment, currently has 11,146 soldiers — although it stated in April it required an additional 8,000.
Somalia has long struggled with the violent insurgency, although the Al-Qaeda-linked group had been forced onto the defensive in 2022 and 2023 by Somali forces backed by African Union-led peacekeepers.
Recent attacks in key towns have provoked worries of the organization’s resurgence, with the militants targeting President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s convoy in capital, Mogadishu in March.
US orders more diplomatic staff to leave Iraq, Lebanon
- Washington has a ‘do not travel’ advisory in place for Lebanon
- More diplomatic personnel left Iraq on Saturday and Sunday
BAGHDAD: The United States has ordered staff from its diplomatic missions in Iraq and Lebanon to leave the countries, with the departures taking place as American strikes on Sunday targeted nuclear facilities in nearby Iran.
More diplomatic personnel left Iraq on Saturday and Sunday as part of ongoing efforts to “streamline operations,” a US official told AFP.
The departures were a continuation of a process that started last week “out of an abundance of caution and due to heightened regional tensions,” the official added.
In Lebanon, the US embassy said the State Department on Sunday had ordered staffers’ family members and non-emergency US government personnel to leave the country.
A statement on the embassy website cited “the volatile and unpredictable security situation in the region.”
Earlier in the day, Washington joined Israel’s war against Iran, with US President Donald Trump announcing strikes on the Islamic republic’s main nuclear sites.
After the strikes, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader warned that bases in the region used to launch US attacks “will be considered legitimate targets.”
Fears were also growing over possible intervention by Iran-backed armed factions around the Middle East, who have threatened Washington’s interests should it join Israel’s campaign.
Israel has already fought a war in Lebanon with the Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah, leaving it badly weakened before a ceasefire took hold in November.
On Sunday, Hezbollah said the US strikes revealed “the true face of the United States of America as the largest threat to regional and international security and stability.”
The group has not previously expressed any intention to intervene militarily on Iran’s side, but its chief Naim Qassem said last week that it would “act as we see fit.”
Washington has a “do not travel” advisory in place for Lebanon.
Iraq, meanwhile, has for years navigated a delicate balancing act between its allies Tehran and Washington, has also long been a fertile ground for proxy battles.
On Sunday, the Iraqi government expressed “its deep concern and strong condemnation of the targeting of nuclear facilities” in Iran, spokesperson Basim Alawadi said.
“This military escalation constitutes a grave threat to peace and security in the Middle East and poses serious risks to regional stability,” he added.
