ANKARA

A Malaysian court on Friday found former Prime Minister Najib Razak guilty of abuse of power and money laundering involving nearly 2.2 billion ringgits ($543 million) in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case, according to state-run media.

Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah, the federal court judge who previously presided over a High Court 1MDB trial, delivered the judgment, Bernama news agency reported.

The court found him guilty on four charges of abusing his power and 21 counts of money laundering involving 2.3 billion ringgits ($568 million) from 1MDB funds.

Najib’s conviction followed the delivery of a lengthy judgment, with the court taking nearly 4 1/2 hours to read out its decision after a high court trial that lasted more than six years.

He was accused of abusing his power as prime minister and finance minister and chairman of 1MDB’s board of advisers to personally enrich himself.

Najib, 70, has faced several trials in connection with the 1MDB scandal, as both Malaysian and US authorities allege that around $4.5 billion was embezzled from the state fund in a wide-ranging international scheme from 2009 to 2014.

He was found guilty in 2020 of criminal breach of trust and abuse of power for illegally receiving funds misappropriated from 1MDB, a state-owned fund.

Najib is currently serving his sentence in Kajang Prison in Selangor.

Last year, the Malaysian monarchy granted him a pardon, cutting his 12-year sentence in half.

In July, Najib applied to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest, but his request was denied.