PetroSaudi execs get Swiss jail terms over $1.8 bn 1MDB fraud

AFP | Bellinzona, Switzerland

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com

A top Swiss court sentenced two PetroSaudi executives to jail terms yesterday after finding them guilty over the embezzlement of $1.8 billion from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB. Tarek Obaid, the Swiss-Saudi chief executive of the oil exploration and production company, was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Federal Criminal Court, Switzerland's Keystone-ATS news agency reported.

Patrick Mahony , a Swiss-British director at PetroSaudi, was given a six-year sentence, the agency said.

Prosecutor Alice de Chambrier had sought a 10-year sentence for Obaid and a nineyear term for his right-hand man. Obaid, 48, and Mahony, 47, were seen arriving separately at the court in the southern city of Bellinzona ahead of the verdict hearing.

The trial was heard by three judges at the court in April. Obaid and Mahony were accused of involvement in a vast embezzlement orchestrated by Jho Low, an advisor to former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.

Noting the sums involved compared to Malaysia's GDP, Chambrier called it the "scam of the century" and branded the defendants as "calculative, manipulative and obscenely greedy", Keystone-ATS reported during the trial. The defence pleaded for acquittal, arguing that no fraud had taken place.