Politicians, especially those on the opposite side, used the scandal to discredit the then-prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and the BN.
Denial after denial of the contents of a report by the US Department of Justice did not help him as more “dirt” poured from international media organisations like the Wall Street Journal.
Against this backdrop, the Fake News Act was promulgated in October 2017 but it was only gazetted on April 11, 2018. However, it did not prevent more news of Najib’s involvement in 1MDB from emerging.