Najib’s 1MDB conviction, teen bullying deaths and high-profile corruption rulings were among the major cases that captured national attention in 2025.
KUALA LUMPUR:Â Throughout 2025, a series of high-profile court cases involving political figures continued to attract significant national and international attention. Concurrently, crimes involving the bullying and murder of adolescents sparked intense public discourse.
The multibillion-Ringgit misappropriation scandal linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) remained a primary focus of media coverage.
The 1MDB case, involving Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, the first-ever former prime minister of Malaysia to be brought before the courts on corruption and abuse of power charges, has remained consistently in the public eye, subject to extensive coverage by both domestic and international media.
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On Dec 26, after seven years of proceedings in the High Court, the presiding judge, His Honour Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, delivered the verdict. Najib, 72, was found guilty on 25 counts of money laundering and using his position to obtain RM2.3 billion in gratification from 1MDB funds. He was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment and fined RM11.4 billion, in default 40 years’ imprisonment.
The proceedings, which commenced at 9.23 am, concluded with the sentencing around 9 pm, lasting nearly twelve hours. Among its findings, the court ruled that Najib’s defence – that the funds constituted a donation from the Saudi Arabian government – was not credible, a baseless fabrication, and unsupported by robust evidence.
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The judge characterised this narrative as a story that surpasses tales from the Arabian Nights, concluding that it was devoid of credibility, riddled with inconsistencies, and entirely unbelievable.
The former Pekan MP’s aspiration to serve the remainder of his custodial sentence under home detention was also denied following the High Court’s Dec 22 dismissal of a judicial review application concerning a royal addendum decree.
The Court found that the said decree, purportedly allowing Najib to serve the remainder of his sentence at home, had neither been discussed nor determined during the 61st Meeting of the Pardons Board on Jan 29, 2024.
Consequently, Najib must serve the balance of his sentence in Kajang Prison for his conviction of misappropriating RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd funds, for which he was originally sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment and fined RM210 million. This sentence was subsequently commuted to six years’ imprisonment and a RM50 million fine by the Pardons Board.
In a separate but related matter, on June 20, the High Court granted an application by the defence and ordered a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for Najib on three money laundering charges involving RM27 million in SRC International funds.
Such an order releases the accused from the charges for the time being but permits the prosecution to prefer fresh charges at a future date should they choose to do so.
Another case that captured significant public attention was that of Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman. On June 25, the Court of Appeal acquitted and discharged the Muar MP from four charges of abetment to criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of property, and money laundering involving Angkatan Bersatu Anak Muda (Armada) funds.
The Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) filed a notice of appeal against the acquittal to the Federal Court, which was heard on Dec 11.
In a separate matter, the former Bersatu Segambut Division deputy chief, Adam Radlan Adam Muhammad, was acquitted and discharged by the Sessions Court on Aug 20, following the settlement of a RM4.1 million compound, which resolved twelve corruption and money laundering charges related to the Jana Wibawa project.
In another momentous turn of events, on Oct 1, the Sessions Court ordered that a vast cash sum exceeding RM169 million belonging to former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob be irrevocably forfeited to the government.
This final judgment followed the stark confirmation that neither the former prime minister himself, nor his former political secretary, Datuk Mohammad Anuar Mohd Yunus, would contest the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s application.
Notably, the court’s order was met with silence, as no third parties stepped forward to assert any claim over the significant assets, leaving them unequivocally in the hands of the government.
The tragic case of autistic boy Zayn Rayyan Abdul Matin captivated the nation. On Dec 23, the Shah Alam High Court dismissed his mother Ismanira Abdul Manaf’s bid to stay her five-year prison sentence pending appeal. The Court found no special circumstances to grant a stay.
Previously, the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court had imposed the sentence after finding Ismanira guilty of neglecting the boy, thereby causing him physical injury. Her husband, Zaim Ikhwan Zahari, was, however, acquitted and discharged of the same charge.
Another prominent headline was generated by the death of Form One student Zara Qairina Mahathir at a religious school in Papar, Sabah. On Aug 13, the AGC ordered a formal inquest to determine the precise cause and circumstances of her death. The inquest commenced on Sept 3 and has since seen testimony from 57 witnesses to date.
Zara Qairina passed away at Queen Elizabeth I Hospital on July 17, having been found unconscious near a drain at the school hostel in the early hours of the previous morning.
In a related development, on Aug 20, five female juveniles were charged at the Kota Kinabalu Children’s Court with using abusive language towards Zara Qairina. Subsequently, on Dec 8, two teachers from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Tun Datu Mustapha gave evidence on the first day of a closed-door trial.
In a separate high-profile matter, the Shah Alam High Court sentenced 13 men, including GISB Holdings Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Nasiruddin Mohd Ali and the son of the late Al-Arqam founder Ashaari Muhammad, to 15 months’ imprisonment each, after they pleaded guilty to charges of being members of an unlawful society.
In a related ruling, Nasiruddin’s wife, Azura Md Yusof, and eight other women each received fines of RM4,500 after admitting guilt to the same offence.
Public attention was also gripped by the case of a male juvenile charged at the Petaling Jaya Magistrates’ Court with the murder of a 16-year-old female student in the toilet of a secondary school in Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya. The court has fixed Jan 16, 2026, to hear the juvenile’s mental assessment report.
In a further significant case, on Aug 26, the Shah Alam High Court granted an application by the mother of the late Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Palapes trainee, Syamsul Haris Shamsudin, for the exhumation of his remains at Kampung Rinching Ulu Muslim Cemetery in Semenyih, Selangor, to facilitate a second post-mortem.
On Dec 2, the AGC directed that Syamsul Haris’s case be reclassified under Section 302 of the Penal Code, formally mandating the Royal Malaysia Police to proceed with a murder investigation.
Separately, several high-profile civil cases captured media attention. On April 18, former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin was awarded RM2.5 million in damages after succeeding in his defamation suit against preacher Mohd Rasyiq Mohd Alwi, also known as Ustaz Abu Syafiq, concerning statements made about COVID-19 vaccines.
In another defamation ruling on May 30, the High Court ordered Dr Kamarul Zaman Yusoff, a lecturer at Universiti Utara Malaysia, to pay Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh RM400,000 in damages. Yeoh had previously won the suit on Aug 28.
On July 29, the High Court ordered the government to pay damages of RM1.1 million to the mother of Dutch model Ivana Esther Robert Smit, whose body was found on a sixth-floor condominium balcony. This order was, however, suspended on Nov 18 when the Court of Appeal granted the government’s application to stay payment pending the outcome of its appeal.
In further significant rulings on Nov 5, the High Court ordered the government to pay RM3,264,457.52 to Norhayati Mohd Ariffin, the wife of activist Amri Che Mat. In a separate but related judgment, the government was also ordered to pay over RM37 million to Susanna Liew, the wife of pastor Raymond Koh.
Both awards followed the successful civil suits filed by the women against the government and police concerning the enforced disappearances of their husbands. The AGC filed a notice of appeal against these decisions on Nov 6.
The case involving the death of Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia naval cadet Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain also commanded significant media attention and public interest. On Feb 28, a ruling by the Federal Court spared six former students of the university from the death penalty. The Court instead upheld their 18-year prison sentences for causing Zulfarhan’s death without intent.
In a separate matter on Aug 14, the Court of Appeal upheld the 12-year prison sentence for Siti Bainun Ahd Razali, founder of Rumah Bonda, following the dismissal of her final appeal against conviction for the neglect and abuse of a teenage girl with Down Syndrome, known as Bella.
Public focus also turned to the case of former Tronoh assemblyman Paul Yong Choo Kiong. On Oct 1, the Federal Court upheld his conviction and eight-year prison sentence, in addition to two strokes of the cane, for the rape of an Indonesian domestic worker.
On July 1, the Federal Court delivered a key ruling, upholding the death sentence for former pathology specialist Col Dr R Kunaseegaran, who had been convicted of the 2015 murder of deputy public prosecutor Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais. In a contrasting decision, the Court then commuted the death sentences of S Nimalan and S Ravi Chandran to life imprisonment.
Furthermore, the Federal Court acquitted and discharged three other men, R Dinishwaran, A K Thinesh Kumar and M Vishwanath, after finding the evidence insufficient to sustain their murder convictions.
As the year drew to a close, the nation was again gripped by a high-profile corruption case. Former senior political secretary to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, was charged in the Kuala Lumpur and Shah Alam Sessions Courts on five counts of corruption.
Businessman Albert Tei was also charged in the same courts with bribing Shamsul Iskandar to facilitate the approval of a mineral exploration licence in Sabah.
The corruption trial of former Kinabatangan MP Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin and his wife, Datin Seri Zizie Izette Abdul Samad, was overtaken by events following his death on Dec 5. The proceedings, originally scheduled for Nov 27 and Dec 3, had already been adjourned to Jan 12-14, 2026, before his passing. Bung Moktar had recently successfully defended the Lamag state seat in the 17th Sabah State Election.
Malaysia secured a decisive international legal victory on Dec 9 when the Paris Court of Appeal wholly annulled the USD14.92 billion Final Award. The court dismissed the award, originally issued by arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa on Feb 28, 2022, in favour of the self-proclaimed heirs of the Sulu Sultanate. The Court also ordered the Sulu claimants to pay Malaysia €200,000 (approximately RM952,640) in costs.
This outcome was reinforced by a ruling from the Spanish Supreme Court on Oct 8, which upheld a six-month prison sentence and a one-year professional ban against Stampa, as originally imposed by the Madrid Criminal Court on Dec 22, 2023, for contempt of court in the Sulu group’s claim against Malaysia, following the dismissal of his appeal. – Bernama
