Malaysia Ex-PM Najib arrested by anti-corruption officials

Former Malaysian PM Najib Razak has been arrested by anti-corruption authorities and is due to be charged on Wednesday.

Mr Najib, who has long been plagued by allegations of corruption, has been accused of pocketing $700m (£517m) from state development fund 1MDB.

Billions of dollars are unaccounted for from the fund, set up by Mr Najib.

He has been under investigation since his shock election loss in May. Mr Najib denies any wrongdoing.

In a pre-recorded video posted on Twitter, he appealed to the public not to believe the reports, saying that not all of the accusations were true. “I have not had a chance to defend myself,” he said.

According to a statement by the 1MDB special task force, Mr Najib was arrested at 14:35 local time (06:35 GMT) at his house in relation to matters dealing with SRC, a subsidiary of 1MDB.

He will be charged at 08:30 on Wednesday at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Raids in recent weeks have been carried out across properties linked to Mr Najib.

Police say they recovered $273m in luxury goods and cash from a raid in June, calling the seizure of valuables the biggest in Malaysian history.

Jewellery accounted for the biggest portion of the seizure, with the most expensive item being a $1.6m diamond and gold necklace.