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Those efforts included witness-tampering – potential witnesses were coached or appeared too frightened to talk because they had been threatened – while other witnesses absconded abroad to avoid questioning. Najib's office also had a hand in writing press releases for the MACC, which is meant to operate independently.

Singapore To Revisit

Apart from its effect on the judicial work in Malaysia itself, the probe into Najib is a boon for investigators elsewhere. Prosecutors in the U.S., Singapore, and Switzerland had been cooling their heels for years waiting for help from on the ground in Malaysia. Finally, they have a chance of clinching it: Malaysia's new prosecutor, Tommy Thomas, discussed it in a phone call three weeks ago with his Swiss counterpart, Michael Lauber.

On Wednesday, Singapore's finance regulator said it is looking into what emerges in Malaysia. Officials in the city-state, which didn't dither shutting down two banks which laundered money for 1MDB, have worked hand in glove with their regulatory and judicial counterparts in Switzerland, the other money center at the heart of the 1MDB scandal.

Banker Fallout?

The charges against Najib also raises the stakes for several bankers and others linked to the probe. Malaysian financier Jho Low, who is being sought by the U.S., Singapore and Malaysia, is reportedly holed up either in China or Dubai. He cannot be extradited to Malaysia from either country.

Bankers including Swiss-born Hanspeter Brunner still await their fate in Singapore. Brunner was head of the Asian arm of private bank Banca della Svizzera Italiana, or BSI, which was shut down in the city-state due to its dealings with 1MDB and Low.