Allegations that billions of dollars were taken from investment vehicle 1MDB and used to buy everything from a super-yacht to artworks played a major role in prompting voters to oust Najib’s long-ruling regime at May elections.

Najib has now been hit with a total of 39 charges since losing power, most related to his alleged role in looting 1MDB.

Other figures linked to the previous administration have also been hauled into court.

The latest charges focus on claims that Najib ordered a report on 1MDB by the government’s official audit body to be altered in February 2016, with the help of Arul Kanda, who was president and chief executive of the sovereign wealth fund at the time.

It was then presented to a parliamentary committee.

The government’s chief auditor said last month the audit had been changed to remove details about the fund’s true financial condition and to erase a mention of Low Taek Jho, a financier accused of masterminding the fraud, at a 1MDB board meeting.

Najib, 65, is accused of breaking laws that forbid officials from using their position for personal gain and faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted.

He pleaded not guilty and has denied all the charges against him so far.

Arul, being charged for the first time over the scandal, is accused of assisting Najib in altering the audit. He denied the allegation, and faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted.

Both suspects were released on bail of 500,000 ringgit ($120,000) each.

Namtip Ficho, chairwoman of the Association of Thai Provence, said she has been informed by the Association of Thai Students in France that Anupong Suebsamarn was killed in the shooting shortly after arriving in the country on holiday.

Namtip quoted the tourist’s wife, Naiyana Subesamarn, as saying that her slain husband was 45.

Naiyana had given the details while she waited at a hospital where her husband had been taken, said Namtip, adding that the Thai Embassy in Paris has been informed of the death.

The Thai ambassador is scheduled to travel to Strasbourg today (Wednesday) to help handle the legal process regarding the death.

French authorities said the gunman also wounded a dozen others before fleeing the scene.

A manhunt was under way after the killer opened fire at around 8pm local time (2am Bangkok time) on one of the city’s busiest streets, sending crowds of evening shoppers fleeing for safety. Soldiers patrolling the area as part of regular anti-terror operations exchanged fire with the suspect and wounded him, but could not stop him escaping, French police said.

A manhunt was under way after the killer opened fire at around 8pm (1900 GMT) on one of the city’s busiest streets, sending crowds of evening shoppers fleeing for safety.

Soldiers patrolling the area as part of regular anti-terror operations exchanged fire with the suspect and wounded him, but could not stop him escaping, police sources said.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said early Wednesday the gunman had killed three people and wounded 12. Earlier Mayor Roland Ries had given a toll of “four dead and a dozen wounded”.

Castaner also said France had raised its security alert level to “emergency attack” with “the implementation of reinforced border controls and tightened controls on all Christmas markets in France to avoid the risk of a copycat” attack.

The gunman has been identified and was on a watchlist of suspected extremists, a statement from local security services said.

France’s security forces, already on high alert after a series of terror attacks since 2015, are particularly stretched at the moment due to anti-government protests that have swept the country.

“I heard shooting and then there was pandemonium,” one witness, who gave his name as Fatih, told AFP. “People were running everywhere.”

He said he had seen three people injured on the ground only a few metres (feet) from the giant Christmas tree in the centre of the city.

Shortly after the shooting, lines of police vehicles and ambulances streamed into the market area, under festive lights declaring the city the “capital of Christmas.”

“We heard several shots, three perhaps, and we saw people running,” one witness told AFP, asking not to be named.

“One of them fell down, I don’t know whether it was because she was tripped up or if she was hit,” the witness said.

President Emmanuel Macron held a crisis meeting with cabinet officials in Paris shortly after midnight.

Known to police

Two separate security sources told AFP on condition of anonymity that the shooter was believed to be a 29-year-old from the city, whose name was given as Cherif, and who was set to be arrested on Tuesday morning.

He was being investigated over an attempted murder, one of the sources said.

Several areas neighbouring the Christmas market were sealed off on Tuesday night and residents were being told to stay indoors.

Many people took refuge in local restaurants and bars which pulled down their shutters.

“We let everyone inside, down into the wine cellar. They’re locked in there,” local restaurant owner Mouad, 33, told AFP.

A police source, again speaking on condition of anonymity, said security forces had opened fire in an area of the city where the suspect was thought to be hiding.

The source did not give the address and it was unclear if the shooter had been located.

Specialist anti-terror prosecutors have opened an investigation into the incident in Strasbourg, which lies on the border with Germany.

Several residents of the city have been detained in recent years for trying to reach jihadist groups in Syria, or have been arrested upon their return.

“Shocked and saddened by the terrible attack in Strasbourg. My thoughts are with all of those affected and with the French people,” British Prime Minister Theresa May wrote on Twitter.

Tourist attraction

The Strasbourg-based European Parliament was also on lockdown, with MEPs, staff and journalists unable to leave the building.

In a parliament bar usually reserved for MEPs, EU commissioners, powerful legislators and staffers huddled in small groups waiting for developments.

“Our first thought was for colleagues who had already made it to the centre of town, who are safe,” Belgian MEP Kathleen Van Brempt told AFP. “Now we just wait.”

The Christmas market in Strasbourg and the city’s illuminations are an annual attraction that draws hundreds of thousands of people.

Security has been stepped up in recent years after a series of attacks in France by Islamist gunmen and the Strasbourg market was long considered a possible target.

In 2016, a 23-year-old Tunisian killed 12 and injured 48 others when he ploughed a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

Special anti-terror army units have been deployed in Strasbourg, and soldiers and armed police are regularly seen patrolling among the 300 wooden Christmas market chalets.

Three years after groups of jihadists gunned down and blew up 130 people in Paris on November 13, 2015, French counter-terror officials say their focus has shifted.

Rather than coordinated attacks, their main concern is attacks by “lone wolves” — self-radicalised individuals acting without links to terror groups such as Islamic State.

Most recently a 20-year-old Chechnya-born man went on a knife rampage in central Paris last May, killing one man and injuring four other people on a Saturday night.

A total of 246 people have been killed in terror attacks in France since 2015, according to an AFP toll.

As the first reports of the attack landed on smartphones, droves of EU attendees were on their way to dinner and parties but were stopped at the parliament exit doors by no-nonsense security guards.

“The lockdown will hold until there’s a resolution to what is going on outside,” a security official said, waving everyone back.

Inside, with the session still ongoing, things remained business as usual, at least initially.

In a show of solidarity European Parliament President Antonio Tajani insisted on keeping the plenary session open, and debate continued as planned until midnight (2300 GMT).

“This parliament will not be intimidated by terrorist or criminal attacks… We will continue to work, strengthened by freedom and democracy against terrorist violence,” Tajani told MEPs.

Tajani at 0100 GMT announced an evacuation plan in cooperation with French police, but news that MEPs would be given preference over staff and assistants caused an uproar.

“I am proposing that either everyone leaves or no one leaves,” said Edouard Martin, a French MEP.

The evacuation is especially tricky as the vast majority of EU parliament participants are from out of town, mainly Brussels, with thousands staying in hotels in the city.

When the news of the attack first broke, some responded angrily: “The lucky ones are back at their hotels,” complained one official as she took an elevator back to her office.

But as the night grew longer, proceedings began to resemble a snow day from school, with the stranded killing time in good cheer.

“I’m safe but my heart and condolences are with the victims of this atrocity. Vive la France!,” said British MEP Charles Tannock who was also under lockdown in the parliament building.

‘Now we just wait’

In a bar usually reserved for MEPs, EU commissioners, powerful legislators and staffers huddled in groups waiting for developments.

Some watched football matches on tablets, while wine corks popped and hors d’oeuvres, scavenged from committee meetings, were passed around.

Belgian MEP Kathleen Van Brempt said no one knew anything more than what was being heard on the news.

“Tonight is our delegation Christmas dinner at a restaurant in the centre. Our first thought was for colleagues who had already made it to town, who are safe.”

“Now we just wait,” she said.

As bottles emptied and hours passed, staffers settled down where they could, with some assistants camping out in committee rooms with pizza and drink.

“We need some music in here, this is so boring!” shouted one attendee.

In the packed canteen, senior socialist MEP Udo Bullman did the rounds greeting colleagues.

“As far as we know our folks safe… Please stay cautious,” he said on Twitter.

Green MEP Julia Reda was seen briefing colleagues on the latest parliamentary business as others surfed the internet for the latest developments in town.

“It’s surreal,” said Solange Helin-Villes, a spokeswoman for Social Democratic MEPS.

“We’ll see how we’re doing at 4am,” she added.

Lum Zawng, Nang Pu and Zau Jet were sentenced Friday to six months in prison and fined about $320 each for defaming the military after helping organise a demonstration in Kachin state’s capital Myitkyina in April.

They were highlighting the plight of thousands of civilians trapped by the fighting between the military and ethnic Kachin insurgents in one of the world’s longest-running civil wars.

On Tuesday demonstrators, many with faces painted in Kachin’s red and green colours, held banners aloft and chanted slogans against the activists’ imprisonment and the judiciary.

“We demand the authorities release our people immediately,” protest leader Naw Aung told AFP after the march, which wound its way to the city’s main stadium.

The organisers said some 4,000 people took part in the demonstration, including many languishing in around 30 displacement camps around the city.

Police gave AFP a more conservative estimate of 1,700 participants, although acknowledged that more people joined later.

The EU and rights groups have urged Myanmar’s government to quash the convictions and release all three activists.

The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, described the jail terms given to the activists as “wholly unacceptable”.

“This is yet another case in which the Myanmar government is failing to uphold human rights and democratic principles, and is using an archaic law that is contrary to accepted human rights principles as a weapon against human rights defenders,” she said.

Rebels have clashed with the powerful military for more than six decades in restive Kachin state over autonomy, ethnic identity, drugs, jade and other natural resources.

Fighting surged dramatically this year, forcing thousands to flee to camps in remote parts of the state with inadequate access to aid.

More than 106,000 people are still living in camps across Kachin and Shan states, their plight recently overshadowed by the separate Rohingya crisis in western Rakhine state.