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Malaysia’s former first lady Rosmah Mansor has been convicted of soliciting and accepting bribes during her husband’s corruption-tainted government, a week after he was jailed for a massive looting of 1MDB state funds.
Rosmah was convicted of three counts of soliciting bribes and accepting 6.5 million ringgit (£1.25 million) between 2016 and 2017 to help a company secure a project to supply solar panels to schools in Borneo. She is expected to remain on bail as she appeals to a higher court.
High Court Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan said prosecutors had proven beyond doubt that Rosmazoo bribed and accepted money as his own reward. He said her defense was a stark denial.
Her husband Najib Razak started a 12-year prison sentence last week after losing his final appeal in one of five cases involving the theft of billions of pounds from 1MDB.
Before the sentencing, the court heard Rosmah’s application to be disqualified as a judge after the alleged guilty verdict was leaked online. Police said the leaked documents were done within the court’s research unit, not the verdict, but Rosmah’s defenders said they had lost confidence in the judge’s impartiality.
Prosecutor Gopal Sriram said Rosmah’s application was made in bad faith to delay her sentencing. He said it would not be wrong if the judge did ask for the opinion of the court’s research division. He added that such a judicial research system, which is accepted in many countries, does not discredit the courts and does not imply any bias.
Malaysia’s Supreme Court earlier criticised the conduct of the website, run by a British blogger, as a “deliberate act” aimed at discrediting the court.
Last week, the same website published a document saying the federal court’s guilty verdict against Najib, just before the court’s verdict was read. The court said the leaked document was a working draft of the ruling. The court has lodged a complaint with the police over the two leaks.
Each charge against Rosmah, 70, carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of five times the amount of the bribe. The court is hearing mitigation statements before deciding on penalties.
Rosmah pleaded emotionally from the dock, saying she was sad and felt she was not getting justice. She said she never raised any money or received any money, even while leading the charitable foundation as the Prime Minister’s wife.
She also condemned the events that led to Najib’s imprisonment and her family’s suffering as a witch hunt.
“If this is your conclusion, I surrender to God,” she said.
Rosmah’s trial revealed her alleged influence in the government since her husband took office in 2009. Although she did not hold any official position, she wielded considerable influence due to her “dominant nature”, prosecutors said.
Witnesses said a special unit called the “Malaysian First Lady” was set up to handle her affairs.
The couple faced multiple corruption charges after shockingly dismantling Najib’s United Malays group in the 2018 election amid public outrage over the 1MDB scandal.
Umno is back in power after defections brought down the reformist government that won polls in 2018.
After Najib lost power, police raided the family home and seized hundreds of boxes of luxury handbags, 423 watches, 14 crowns and other jewellery, as well as cash estimated to be more than 1.1 billion ringgit (£211 million).
In a separate trial that has yet to begin, Rosmah is also charged with laundering 1MDB-related ill-gotten gains and tax evasion.
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