The former Malaysian Prime Minister’s wife, Najib Razak has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for corruption.
Rosmah Mansor was found guilty of three counts of soliciting and receiving bribes to help a company win a 1.25 billion ringgit (US$279 million, £240 million) project sterling).
The Supreme Court said the prison terms would run concurrently.
It comes days after her husband is serving a 12-year prison sentence for corruption.
The 70-year-old is known for her love of luxury goods and jewelry. When Malaysian police searched the couple’s properties in 2018, they found a $1.6 million gold and diamond necklace, 14 tiaras and 272 Hermès bags.
Rosmah, who had pleaded not guilty, sat quietly in the dock as High Court Judge Zaini Mazlan delivered the verdict on Thursday afternoon. “I have to admit that I am very saddened by what happened today,” she told the judge in tears after the verdict, according to a Reuters report.
“No one saw me take the money, no one saw me count the money…but if that’s the conclusion, I’ll leave it to God.”
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She was also fined a total of RM970 million. However, it is unclear when he will serve a prison sentence, as his execution has been postponed pending his appeal.
Rosmah still faces 17 more charges of money laundering and tax evasion. He stated that he was not guilty of these charges.
Prosecutors said Rosmah asked for a bribe of Ringgit 187.5 million and received Ringgit 6.5 million from an official of a company that won the tender for a solar energy project.
She previously claimed she was framed by her former assistant and other officials involved in the project, but the judge called her defense “blatant and unfounded denial.” His legal team had also filed a final motion on Wednesday to remove the presiding judge. They argued that an allegedly leaked document indicating that her guilty verdict had been reached prematurely left her with no confidence in the judge’s ability to deal fairly with the case.
But Judge Mazlan denied the motion to deny, saying prosecutors had proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The sentence was welcomed by a Malaysian civil society group.”Justice has been served for the Malaysian people,” Mandeep Singh, former head of the Bersih secretariat, said. “For the people of Malaysia, we cannot stop there. [Rosmah] can still appeal, but we hope she ends up going to jail to join her husband.
