NAJIB TRIAL | In 2016, Malaysians learnt that 1MDB and Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), which had initially come to the aid of the debt-ridden Malaysian fund, were in dispute.

The stakes were high. IPIC wanted back the US$1 billion it had extended to 1MDB as assistance when the Malaysian company could not repay a US$975 million loan by Deutsche Bank...