bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

The wife of Malaysia’s former leader Najib Razak was Wednesday hit with a new corruption charge and complained she was the victim of “slander”.
Rosmah Mansor – widely reviled in Malaysia due to her penchant for lavish overseas shopping sprees – was charged with accepting a bribe in relation to a government solar power project.
She pleaded not guilty to accepting a 5 million ringgit (US$1.2 million) payment through her aide from a manager at Jepak Holdings as a kickback for helping secure a contract from the Education Ministry.
The ministry awarded Jepak Holdings the 1.25-billion ringgit contract to supply and install solar energy panels in 369 schools in eastern Sarawak state on Borneo without open tender.


After the trial, Rosmah told reporters that she had been “slandered”.
“People chose to listen to all the lies, to all the untrue stories that have been told,” she said. “I will remain patient and face all the trials and tribulations which Allah has made go through.”
Rosmah also has 19 other charges of money-laundering and tax evasion linked to the looting of sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) that led to her husband’s electoral loss last May.
Najib, his former deputy and several high-ranking former officials have already been charged with corruption after the election ushered in the first change of power since Malaysia’s independence from Britain in 1957.
The disgraced former leader on Wednesday lost four appeals related to the financial scandal, among which was a bid for a gag order to prevent the press or anyone from discussing the case, local media reported.
Najib and Rosmah’s lavish lifestyles came to symbolise the rot in Malaysia’s ruling elite.
Following the election, police discovered valuables, including cash, jewellery and luxury handbags, worth up to US$273 million in properties linked to the couple.
Najib, whose first trial began last week after months of delay, has accused the new government of seeking political vengeance. But Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said the court cases were based on the rule of law and that those accused will be given fair trials.


Trump ‘tariff tantrums’, Duterte assassination threat, Japan’s first-kiss crisis: 5 reads from This Week In Asia

Rohingya child brides trapped in Malaysia’s refugee crisis: ‘we do not have a choice’

AirAsia’s Tony Fernandes on being ‘loyal to China’, Comac’s allure and Asean expansion

Where are the nurses? Will higher pay lure non-locals to Hong Kong?

Malaysia

Malaysia’s former first lady Rosmah Mansor charged with corruption over solar energy deal; Najib Razak loses bid for gag order

Rosmah Mansor, wife of former Malaysia prime minister Najib Razak. Photo: EPA

How 1MDB corruption scandal changed Malaysian politics

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak after being convicted in July 2020. Photo: AP

epa07305718 Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad speaks during a press statement after his meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (not pictured), at the Ferderal Chancellery in Vienna, Austria, 21 January 2019. Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad is on a working visit in Vienna. EPA-EFE/FLORIAN WIESER

Interview with Jho Low, CEO of Jynwel Capitial Limited, at his office in Central. 11MAR15

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor wave to their supporters as they exit the High Court of Malaya, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Monday, July 9, 2018. Najib was charged last Wednesday with criminal breach of trust and corruption, two months after a multibillion-dollar graft scandal at a state investment fund led to his stunning election defeat. (AP Photo/Yam G-Jun)

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak quits as leader of his coalition and party after he and his wife Rosmah Mansor ‘blacklisted’ from leaving the country

Malaysia’s former prime minister Najib Razak. Photo: EPA

FILE - In this April 3, 2009, file photo, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, left in pink, waves with his wife Rosmah Mansor at prime minister's office in Putrajaya, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Malaysian scandal-plagued Prime Minister Najib is seeking a third term in office during the May 9, 2018 general election, but faces an unprecedented challenge from a rejuvenated opposition led by his former mentor and strongman Mahathir Mohamad. (AP Photo, File)

epa06727116 (FILE) - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim (L) and his wife, Wan Azizah arrive at the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya, Malaysia, 03 November 2014 (reissued 11 May 2018). According to media reports, newly-elected Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said on 11 May 2018, that Malaysia's King, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V, has agreed to grant a full pardon to jailed politician Anwar Ibrahim. Ibrahim, 70, who is currently in custody on charges of sodomy and corruption, was found guilty of sodomizing his former aide in an upscale condominium in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur in 2008. Mahathir added that he will step down once Anwar will be pardoned and released from custody, handing over him the prime minister's post, media added. EPA-EFE/AHMAD YUSNI *** Local Caption *** 51646668

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak of Barisan Nasional (National Front) and his wife Rosmah Mansor show their ink-stained fingers after voting in Malaysia's general election in Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia, May 9, 2018. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

From Malaysia’s ‘first lady’ to ‘bag lady’: why Rosmah Mansor’s vast collection of Hermes Birkins caused a social media storm

Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak with his wife Rosmah Mansor. Rosmah has been grilled on social media for her pricey collection of Hermes bags. Photo: Reuters

(FILES) -- This file photo taken in New York 21 June 2007 shows an employee holding a 129,000 USD crocodile-skin Hermes "Birkin" bag for the press to see, during a private opening for the new Hermes store on Wall Street. British singer-actress Jane Birkin asked French luxury group Hermes to rename the mythical Hermes crocodile bag series bearing her name, "until better practices that meet international standards" are in place for the slaughter of these animals, in a statement that was transmitted to AFP on July 28, 2015. AFP. AFP PHOTO/ TIMOTHY A. CLARY

Malaysian media World of Buzz reports on leaders' wives carrying the iconic Hermes Birkin bag. Photo: worldofbuzz.com

Photo: Reuters

(FILES) This file photo taken on May 4, 2016 shows a Matte White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Birkin with 18K gold and diamond hardware on display during a preview at Christies in Hong Kong on May 4, 2016, identical to another Hermes bag that sold for 379,261 USD (2.94 million HKD) after intense bidding on May 31, 2017, a spokeswoman for auction house Christie's told AFP. A diamond-encrusted crocodile-skin Hermes handbag with white gold details has broken the record for the world's most expensive ever sold at auction, fetching nearly 380,000 USD at a Hong Kong sale on May 31, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / ISAAC LAWRENCE

FILE - In this May 18, 2018, file photo, police prepare to load confiscated items into a truck in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In a series of humiliations, the patrician and luxury-loving Najib Razak and wife Rosmah Mansor were banned from leaving the country; truckloads of luggage stashed with cash and valuables as well as hundreds of expensive designer bags were seized from their home and other properties; and anti-corruption police questioned Najib for hours this week about a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal on his watch. (AP Photo, File)

Malaysians celebrate the downfall of Rosmah Mansor, the big-spending, reviled wife of ousted PM Najib Razak

Rosmah Mansor and her husband, Najib Razak. Photo: AP

Rosmah Mansor: police raids and lavish lifestyle of Malaysia ex-PM’s wife draw comparisons to Philippines’ Imelda Marcos 

Rosmah Mansor: ‘There are some accessories and clothes that I have bought with my own money. What is wrong with that?’

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak (C) and his wife Rosmah Mansor wave to their supporters as they arrive at the nomination centre to hand over election documents in Pekan on April 28, 2018. Malaysia's 14th general election will be held on May 9 with nominations taking place on April 28. / AFP PHOTO / Mohd RASFAN

(FILES) In a file picture taken on February 16, 2001, former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos (2L) accompanied by tourism official Marides Fernando (L), looks at her famous shoe collection after formally opening the suburban Marikina Shoe Museum. A museum guard's quick thinking saved part of former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos's infamous shoe collection when huge floods devastated the nation's capital, a report said on October 8, 2009. AFP PHOTO/JOEL NITO / AFP PHOTO / AFP FILES / JOEL NITO

epa06745949 Boxes are seized by Royal Malaysian Police at the Pavilion Residents, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 18 May 2018. Police have confiscated over 70 bags containing cash and valuables, and more than 280 boxes of designer handbags in a raid at a unit in apartment own by former prime minister Najib Razak. 'The seizure was part of an operation that started on Wednesday (16 May), in connection with an ongoing probe into 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) ', Bukit Aman's Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) Amar Singh said. EPA-EFE/STR MALAYSIA OUT

Rosmah Mansor: ‘There are some accessories and clothes that I have bought with my own money. What is wrong with that?’ File photo: Reuters

News

Asia

Southeast Asia

She has also been charged with laundering illegal proceeds and tax evasion in a massive corruption scandal that led to Najib Razak’s electoral loss last May


Malaysia’s former first lady has also been charged with laundering illegal proceeds and tax evasion in the 1MDB scandal that led to her husband Najib Razak’s electoral loss last May.


Malaysia 1MDB scandal

Corruption in Asia