Najib Razak: Former Malaysian PM and Malvern College pupil jailed

Najib Razak, who was PM of the country from 2009 until 2018, studied in Malvern between 1968 and 1971.

In 2015, Mr Razak visited Malvern College where he opened a science centre named in his honour.

Now, though, he has been jailed for his role in a corruption scandal involving state-owned wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

A court in Malaysia found he had transferred around £8 million from an account linked to the fund into his own private accounts.

JAILED: Najib Razak. Pic. PA

He had been originally sentenced in 2020, but was released pending an appeal, which was rejected this week.

Najib's wife, Rosmah Mansor, also faces money laundering and tax evasion charges - to which she has pleaded not guilty.

When he visited the college in 2015, Mr Razak was accompanied by an entourage of Malaysian journalists.

He toured the new block and met students and staff, before carrying out the official opening ceremony alongside his brother Dato' Johari Razak, another Old Malvernian, and then headmaster Antony Clark.

NAME: The Razak Science Centre as it used to appear. Pic. Robin Sandry

During the visit to the college, Mr Razak recalled his first time in the UK when he was sent to study at Malvern.

He said: "I was fourteen years old then, and I had never left Malaysia.

"After days of travel, I touched down in the United Kingdom for the first time.

"It was a journey full of trepidation - I didn’t know what to expect.

"It was a typical January evening, and as the door of the plane opened, my heart stopped.

NOW: The Science Centre as it now appears on the Malvern College website

"It was like walking into an industrial freezer."

But he told the Malvern Gazette that he had come to love the town and the hills.

He said: "Walking up the Malvern Hills is something I remember well, along with walking down to the pitches for the games, and Saturday nights watching Match of the Day."

The Razak Science Centre at Malvern College no longer bears Mr Razak's name, with a Malvern College spokesperson confirming it had been changed "some time ago".