Judge Mohd Nazlan Ghazali said the defence had failed to raise reasonable doubt over Najib's role in diverting an estimated 42 million ringgit (9.8m dollars) from SRC International, a unit of 1MDB, into his personal bank accounts, Al Jazeera reported.

According to The Star, Najib had been charged with one count of abuse of power, three counts of money laundering and three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT). All of them involved money misappropriated from 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd.

The former Prime Minister faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine for the abuse of power charge; up to 15 years in prison and a fine for money laundering; and up to 20 years in prison, whipping and a fine for the CBT, following his conviction.

The decision came just six days after the High Court ordered Najib to pay the government as much as 1.69 billing ringgit (400 m dollars) in unpaid taxes and penalties, for the years from 2011 to 2017.

Earlier Najib pleaded not guilty to the charges at the start of the trial and claimed the legal proceedings as politically motivated.