Wife of ex-Malaysian leader charged with money laundering, tax evasions

Rosmah Mansor —AP

KUALA LUMPUR—Rosmah Mansor, the luxury-loving wife of Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak, was charged on Thursday with money laundering and tax evasion linked to a multibillion-dollar scandal that helped bring down his government.

The 66-year-old pleaded not guilty to 17 charges of money laundering and tax evasion at a court complex where her husband Najib was also making a separate appearance in connection with the alleged plunder of state funds.

$480,000 bail

Rosmah was allowed to post bail of $480,000 and ordered to surrender her passport.

She was also barred from contacting any witness.

Prosecutors had sought $2.4 million in bail, citing the seriousness of the charges, which could result in Rosmah spending the rest of her life in prison.

Lead prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram told the court that Rosmah “had approached a witness with a request to give a statement in her favor.”

$1.7-million deposit

In the charge sheets, prosecutors said “you engaged directly in a transaction that involves proceeds of unlawful activity” in violation of laws against money laundering.

The first 12 charges involved deposits to a single bank account belonging to her from 2013 to 2017 totaling $1.7 million, and the five other charges were for dodging taxes on the deposits.

Prosecutor Gopal told the court Rosmah’s alleged offenses were “very serious” as he justified the high bail amount sought. Defense lawyers sought bail of $60,000.

Rosmah, wearing an orange dress and scarf, arrived under heavy security at the court complex after being arrested on Wednesday and held overnight at the headquarters of the country’s anticorruption agency, which had subjected her to three rounds of questioning.

Known for love of bling

At court on Thursday, she sat quietly in the dock and did not look at the gallery, where her family members were seated.

Rosmah’s love of designer handbags, jewelry and other trappings of wealth became a target for critics ahead of last May’s election, won by a disparate coalition led by former leader Mahathir Mohamad.

While she was being charged on Thursday, her husband—also out on bail—made a separate court appearance in connection with some of the more than two dozen charges lodged against him.

Najib, 65, has denied any wrongdoing despite disclosures that hundreds of millions of dollars ended up in his personal bank accounts.

Looted state fund

A central issue in the May election that ousted Najib was that his family and cronies looted billions of dollars from state fund 1MDB in a fraud ring that stretched from Singapore to Switzerland.

After the election loss, a stash of cash, jewelry and hundreds of designer handbags worth as much as $273 million was seized from properties linked to the couple in raids around Kuala Lumpur.

Rosmah is often compared to Imelda Marcos, who left behind more than a thousand pairs of shoes after her husband, Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, was ousted in a popular uprising in 1986.

Prime Minister Mahathir, 93, who came back from retirement to challenge Najib, has launched a crackdown against corruption involving people in the previous government.  —AFP