Ex-Malaysia PM’s wife held in graft scam
kuala lumpu — Rosmah Mansor, the flamboyant wife of Malaysia’s former prime minister, was arrested on Wednesday by the country’s anti-graft agency over a multi-billion-dollar scandal that helped to bring down the last government.
Investigations into the alleged looting of state fund 1MDB by an audacious international fraud ring have already seen her husband Najib Razak hit with more than two dozen charges including corruption and money laundering.
He is out on bail following his spectacular fall from power in May elections, at the hands of a reformist alliance headed by Mahathir Mohamad.
“Rosmah has been arrested,” her lawyer K. Kumaraendran told AFP after she was questioned for hours at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on Wednesday. The MACC in a statement said it arrested Rosmah, 66, in relation to money laundering investigations after getting approval from state prosecutors. “Following this, Rosmah will face a number of charges,” it said, adding she will be brought to court early on Thursday to be charged.
An MACC official said Rosmah could face up to 15 years in jail if convicted on each charge. She is expected to spend the night at the MACC headquarters located in the administrative capital Putrajaya outside Kuala Lumpur.
Rosmah, widely reviled in Malaysia due to her profligate spending and imperious manner while her husband was in power, arrived at the MACC headquarters late on Wednesday morning.
At the same time, her husband was also being questioned in a separate location in relation to the scandal. —