These decisions signal the end of impunity for the couple, long considered untouchable despite multiple lawsuits and who have consistently denied corruption charges against them.
Rosmah Mansor, 70, widely unpopular in the Southeast Asian country because of her alleged luxury tastes, had become a symbol of the corruption of Malaysia’s elites.
“The defendant is found guilty on three counts,” said Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan.
He sentenced the former first lady to 10 years in prison and a fine of 970 million ringgits (216 million euros).
Rosmah Mansor was accused of asking for a 187.5 million ringgit (41.7 million euro) bribe and receiving 6.5 million ringgit to help a company win a solar energy project destined for rural schools on the Malaysian part of the island of Borneo during her husband’s tenure.
She still faces 17 other charges, including tax evasion and money laundering.
Rosmah Mansor should however appeal and not go to jail immediately.
Daughter of a couple of teachers, she had become one of the most powerful women in the country when her second husband, Najib Razak, became Prime Minister in 2009.
– Compared to Imelda Marcos –
She was heavily criticized two years later when an entire department was created to serve her in the prime minister’s administration.
Her taste for luxury came to light when searches in 2018 uncovered a stockpile of more than 500 handbags and some 12,000 pieces of jewelry, estimated at $270 million.
She was then compared to former Filipino First Lady Imelda Marcos, known for her extensive shoe collection, and was the target of Malaysians’ anger over elite corruption.
Police described the seizures, at 12 locations, made for the 1MDB investigation, as the largest ever in Malaysia. But Najib Razak constantly claimed that these luxury items were gifts.
Arriving in court on Thursday dressed in a traditional Malay peach-colored dress and decorated with flowers, she claimed during the hearing to be a “victim”.
“My family has suffered. Have mercy, have compassion,” she pleaded.
But the prosecution had asked for a maximum or close to the maximum sentence for each count, stressing that corruption “is one of the most vile diseases that affect society”.
Her husband Najib Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018, was jailed nine days earlier after exhausting all appeals against his conviction.
In 2020, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and a fine of 210 million ringgits (47 million euros) in part of the 1MDB case, a fraud with planetary ramifications involving several billion dollars. .
The ex-leader still on trial for four other charges faces up to 20 in prison for abuse of power and 15 for money laundering.
According to analysts, the incarceration of Najib Razak should derail any plans for the return to politics of the former Prime Minister, who remains very influential and has many supporters.
The vast 1MDB scandal involving several banks including Goldman Sachs, and investigations on several continents, had largely contributed to the electoral defeat of the coalition led by this politician in May 2018.
Najib Razak and accomplices were accused of having used for lavish purchases, ranging from real estate to works of art to a yacht, the money they are accused of having embezzled from the 1MDB fund, initially created to enable the development of the Malaysian economy.
