When three ex-PMs walk into KL court complex on same day

Malaysia may have just notched an unenviable world first, with three former prime ministers descending on the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex today for separate cases.

The trio are Najib Abdul Razak, who served from 2009 to 2018 and made Malaysia infamous through the 1MDB scandal; Muhyiddin Yassin, who was prime minister for 17 months following a political coup; and Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who holds the dubious distinction of having the shortest stint in office, at just 15 months.

According to Bernama, Najib is attending the hearing of a US$5.64 billion (RM22.7 billion) civil suit filed by 1MDB and its subsidiaries against him and several other individuals.

The hearing before judicial commissioner Redzuan Idrus is to continue with testimony from former 1MDB chief executive officer Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi.

The writ of summons alleged, among other things, that Najib committed a breach of trust, breached statutory duties, abused his power and conspired to misappropriate 1MDB funds.

Cases involving hundreds of millions

In separate High Court proceedings, Muhyiddin (above, left), who faces seven charges, is to attend the hearing of his abuse of position and money laundering case linked to the Jana Wibawa project.

The Bersatu president faces four charges of using his position to obtain gratification totalling RM225.3 million for the party from four companies – Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, Nepturis Sdn Bhd, Mamfor Sdn Bhd and KCJ Engineering Sdn Bhd – as well as from Azman Yusoff, in connection with the Jana Wibawa project.

Ismail Sabri was charged in the Sessions Court this morning with failing to disclose millions of ringgit in assets, including five 1kg gold bars, one 100g silver bar and one 5g 999 gold coin, to the MACC last year.

He allegedly committed the offence by giving a sworn written statement that did not comply with the MACC notice under Section 36(1) of the MACC Act 2009 on Feb 7, 2025.

He was initially scheduled to be charged on Aug 7, but the proceedings were postponed to today after he was admitted to the National Heart Institute (IJN) due to health issues.

The MACC also seized RM170 million in cash in various foreign currencies, along with 16kg of pure gold bars worth about RM7 million, as part of its corruption and money laundering investigation involving him.

The seizures took place during searches of a residence and an office believed to have been used as “safe houses”, following investigations into four senior officials who served under Ismail Sabri and were detained in February 2025.

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