The judge then went over the defence’s case, zeroing in on what he called the “Arab donation defence” – that the money Najib received in his accounts was purportedly a political donation from Saudi royalty.

The judge dismissed letters produced by Najib allegedly originating from the Saudi royal family on the donations, saying they were not corroborated by other documentary evidence and were probably forgeries.

It was reported that Najib had received around US$680 million in his personal bank account.

“The fact that the accused’s explanation vacillated between attributing the funds as coming directly from (former Saudi) King Abdullah to later attributing them as emanating from the royal family, in general, does not further the cause of the defence with regard to the legitimacy of the funds,” said the judge.

“The evidence, when taken cumulatively, cannot but tend to the conclusion that the four Arab letters were, in fact, forgeries.”

Sequerah said there was no “credible, contemporaneous or reliable documentary evidence” that directly connected the large sums deposited into Najib’s personal accounts to King Abdullah or any member of the Saudi royal family.

“It defies reasonable belief that, given the colossal amount remitted into the account of the accused in the form of political donations, that there was no evidence of proper and transparent accounting, taking into account the political party which was headed by the accused at the time was not some fly-by-night rookie political entity, but a party – UMNO – that was at the time Malaysia’s largest political party, having its roots established as far back as 1946,” he said.

When Najib was prime minister, he was president of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the Barisan Nasional (BN) lynchpin party he still holds considerable sway over. BN is now part of current premier Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government.

Sequerah adjourned the court at 12.15pm for a lunch break and Friday prayers. Court then resumed at 3pm, with the judge delivering his guilty verdict almost two hours later.