Goodbye to Birkins; Malaysia’s former first woman may be part of husband Najib in jail By Reuters

By Mei Mei Chu and A. Ananthalakshmi

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Rosmah Mansor, the previous first woman of Malaysia, amassed a whole bunch of costly Hermes Birkin purses and diamond jewelry when her husband Najib Razak was prime minister.

Now, Rosmah faces the prospect of becoming a member of him in jail for corruption after the Kuala Lumpur Excessive Court docket sentenced her to 10 years in jail and a file $216 million high quality for soliciting and receiving bribes to assist an organization safe a contract from her husband’s administration.

Rosmah, 70, is out on bail but when she loses appeals in two greater courts, she will likely be put behind bars, ending her million-dollar buying sprees.

The previous first woman, seen as a robust determine behind Najib, is extensively scorned in Malaysia for her extravagant life-style and penchant for Birkin baggage – which might value a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} apiece.

Police discovered 12,000 particular person objects of jewelry, 567 luxurious purses, 423 watches and $26 million in money at properties linked to the couple after Najib’s surprising defeat within the 2018 elections, when voters confirmed their disgust over a multi-billion greenback corruption scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Growth Berhad (1MDB).

Najib final week started a 12-year jail sentence, after shedding an attraction within the first of a number of circumstances introduced towards him over 1MDB. He has constantly denied any wrongdoing.

Rosmah has been dogged by questions over her outsized function within the Najib administration and the supply of her wealth.

“By herself, she occupied no official place. Nonetheless, she wielded appreciable affect by motive of her overbearing nature,” prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram mentioned at first of Rosmah’s trial in 2020 for searching for bribes over a $279 million solar energy provide contract.

Rosmah described these allegations as character assassination and pleaded not responsible to all expenses towards her.

Prosecutors say Rosmah sought a bribe of 187.5 million ringgit ($41.85 million) and acquired 6.5 million ringgit from an official of the corporate that received the photo voltaic mission. A part of it was delivered in two baggage stuffed with money on the couple’s residence, they are saying.

Rosmah additionally faces cash laundering and tax evasion expenses in a separate case.

‘CAN I ADVISE YOU?’

In 2009, Singapore’s founder after which minister-mentor Lee Kuan Yew sought a gathering with Rosmah throughout an official go to to Malaysia, reportedly saying it was crucial to know the couple who “labored as a staff.”

Malaysians got an perception into the primary couple’s dynamics in a 2016 recording launched by investigators, throughout which an agitated Rosmah is heard telling Najib take care of the 1MDB graft scandal swirling spherical him.

“Can I counsel you one thing? Darling, you’re the prime minister and you need to be taking cost, not anyone else okay?” she says, earlier than including, “You’ve got acquired goons round you to advise you.”

She went on to inform Najib deal with aides and overseas officers who have been additionally caught up within the scandal.

Rosmah has not been charged over 1MDB however U.S. and Malaysian investigators say costly jewelry was bought for her from a few of $4.5 billion in stolen funds, together with a $27 million pink diamond necklace.

The necklace was organized for her by Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, higher referred to as Jho Low, who investigators say was near Najib and central to the 1MDB scandal. Low grew to become a fugitive, and his whereabouts are unknown.

Najib has mentioned he was launched to Jho Low by Riza Aziz, Rosmah’s son from her first marriage. Rosmah married Najib in 1987, the second marriage for each.

Riza used a number of the stolen 1MDB cash to fund the 2013 Hollywood film ‘The Wolf of Wall Avenue’, investigators say. Riza later agreed with U.S. and Malaysian investigators to return a number of the property acquired from stolen 1MDB funds, and the case introduced towards him in Malaysia was dropped.

KEEPING UP APPEARANCES

Rosmah drew extra anger when particulars of the size of the 1MDB scandal grew to become public. The Wall Avenue Journal reported that she spent at the very least $6 million between 2008 and 2015 on buying sprees in London, New York and elsewhere.

Regardless of her lavish tastes, Rosmah got here from humble beginnings. In her 2013 autobiography, Rosmah wrote of going through monetary difficulties as a scholar and incomes a meagre wage in her first job at an agriculture financial institution.

Inevitably, given the significance she connected to equipment, Rosmah has been likened to Imelda Marcos, the previous first woman of the Philippines, who left behind greater than 1,200 pairs of footwear when her husband was ousted in 1986.

“As a lady and because the spouse of a frontrunner, I’ve to look made up, neat and care for my look. It’s also embarrassing for Malaysians when different nations make enjoyable of the sloppy spouse of Malaysia’s prime minister,” Rosmah mentioned in her autobiography, defending her tastes.

($1 = 4.4800 ringgit)