ABU Dhabi has sentenced to jail two key figures linked to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal after convicting them of “financial crimes” not related to the Malaysian case, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Khadem al Qubaisi, a United Arab Emirates citizen who once headed Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company, has been jailed for 15 years,  while Mohammed Badawy al Husseiny, an American citizen who ran a subsidiary of IPIC, was sentenced to 10 years. 

WSJ reports that the court press release didn’t name the two men, but confirmed their identities with judicial sources.

The report said the men must pay about €300 million (RM1.4 billion), half to IPIC, referred to as the “victim company,” and half as a penalty. 

Al Qubaisi, referred to as the “first defendant” in the court statement, was convicted of “exploiting his job and unlawfully appropriating 149 million euros after selling shares he owns for the company he heads, without disclosing his ownership of the shares, for 210 million euros.”

The statement said the investigations were part of a broader investigation by the Abu Dhabi Public Funds Prosecution into allegations of corruption.

“Second defendant” Al Husseiny was convicted of “exploiting his position and facilitating the seizure of the company’s money by” Al Qubaisi, WSJ reports.

Al Qubaisi had previously told WSJ that he was being made the scapegoat in the 1MDB-IPIC affair.

IPIC had guaranteed two separate dollar-denominated bonds for 1MDB in 2012 in deals arranged by Goldman Sachs Group Inc that raised US$3.5 billion.

Last month, the government’s case before a London court to tchallenge a US$5.78 billion settlement between 1MDB and IPIC was put on hold by a judge to allow further arbitration.

The government last year challenged a 2017 IPIC deal in the British courts, arguing that IPIC and Aabar were aware of fraud allegations against former prime minister Najib Razak at the time the deal was struck.

Najib was “principally responsible” for consenting to the US$5.78 billion award and he “could not possibly have acted in the best interests of his country and his company,” Attorney-General, Tommy Thomas said in an outline of the case in October.

He had sought to recover the US$1.46 billion already paid and relieve Malaysia of any obligation to pay the remainder.

IPIC completed a merger with Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Development Co in 2017. – June 16, 2019.