Swiss criminal trial verdict on 1MDB scandal accused expected next week
The director of Petrosaudi and his right-hand man will have their fate decided on August 28 when the Swiss Federal Criminal Court will deliver its verdict in the 1MDB case. The two men are accused of embezzling $1.8 billion from Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund and have pleaded acquittal.
The Office of the Swiss Attorney General upheld the charges of fraud, disloyal management and aggravated money laundering. It requested 10-year prison sentences for the director of the Geneva-based company, a dual Swiss-Saudi national, and nine years for his deputy, a Swiss-British national.
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During the deliberations, which lasted three weeks in April, two diametrically opposed interpretations of the facts clashed. Federal prosecutor Alice de Chambrier argued that the two men had used numerous tricks to deceive the directors of 1MDB.
Sophisticated financial arrangements
The defendants made it appear that Petrosaudi had rights to gigantic oil fields in Turkmenistan. In addition, the director was said to have used fancy titles to suggest close links with the Saudi monarchy.
The two men also allegedly enlisted the help of accomplices at the head of the Malaysian fund to prevent the necessary checks from being carried out. These manoeuvres are said to have enabled more than $1.8 billion to be siphoned off via three sophisticated financial arrangements between 2009 and 2010.
At the start of the trial and on several subsequent occasions, the defence unsuccessfully requested that the press and public be excluded from the hearing. It justified this measure on the grounds that the director of Petrosaudi and his family back home would be at risk if any revelations were made that might embarrass the kingdom.
Royal connections
The lawyers tried hard to substantiate the close relations that the Petrosaudi boss allegedly had with members of the royal family. They cited Prince Turki, who chaired the company’s board of directors. “Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy”, where everything belongs to the king, stressed one of the defenders. A name like Petrosaudi cannot be used without state approval.
The defence also insisted on the reality of the oil assets controlled by Petrosaudi and the seriousness of its financial operations. If there had been any negligence, it would have been the fault of Malaysia alone.
The 1MDB scandal resulted in the embezzlement of a total of $4.5 billion, including $1.8 billion by the two defendants on trial before the Federal Criminal Court. The entire operation was orchestrated by former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and his advisor Jho Low. In Malaysia, Najib Razak was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2020, a sentence reduced by half last February.
Adapted from French by DeepL/ac
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