Malaysia: Ex-PM Najib’s wife Rosmah arrested by anti-graft agency

Rosmah Mansour could face up to 15 years in jail if convicted on charges, an MACC official said.

Rosmah Mansor, wife of Malaysia''s former Prime Minister Najib Razak, arrives to give a statement to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in Putrajaya
Rosmah, 66, was arrested in relation to money laundering investigations [File: Lai Seng Sin/Reuters]

The wife of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Rosmah Mansor, has been arrested by the country’s anti-graft agency over a multibillion-dollar scandal that helped bring down the government.

“Rosmah has been arrested,” her lawyer K Kumaraendran told AFP news agency after she was questioned for hours at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on Wednesday.

Investigations into the alleged looting of state fund 1MDB by an audacious international fraud ring have already seen her husband hit with more than two dozen charges, including corruption and money laundering.

He is out on bail following his spectacular fall from power at the hands of a reformist alliance headed by Mahathir Mohamad which won the May elections.

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 while her husband was in power, arrived at the MACC headquarters in a two-car convoy late Wednesday morning.

At the same time, her husband was also being questioned by police in a separate location in relation to the scandal.

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

Najib and Rosmah have been barred from leaving the country and enforcement agencies have relaunched a probe into how the 1MDB funds went missing.

1MDB is also the subject of money-laundering probes in at least six countries, including the United States, Switzerland and Singapore.

Source: News Agencies