Justo sentenced to 3 years for blackmail of oil firm

BANGKOK - A Thai court has sentenced a Swiss man to three years in prison on charges of blackmailing his former employer, a Saudi oil company, by threatening to reveal stolen documents.

The case has drawn the greatest interest in Malaysia, because documents said to have been leaked by Xavier Justo allegedly revealed links between a financial scandal and Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Justo's original six-year sentence was cut in half after he pleaded guilty Monday at a Bangkok court.

The court case focused narrowly on whether Justo demanded money from PetroSaudi International not to reveal information in files he downloaded from a company computer.

However, Thai police have said Justo confessed that he handed over documents involving PetroSaudi's dealings with Malaysia to a Malaysian anti-government news website.