Channel News Asia, KUALA LUMPUR :
Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, arrived for questioning on Tuesday (Jun 5) at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) headquarters in Putrajaya.
She was called in by the country’s anti-graft authorities to assist in their probe into 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) subsidiary SRC International.
Rosmah arrived in a convoy of four private cars and was accompanied by her daughter Nooryana Najwa.
Flanked by security guards and her lawyers, she stepped out of a silver Mercedes carrying a bright red handbag that appeared to be a model made by Italian luxury fashion brand Versace.
MACC issued a notice to Rosmah last Friday to be at its headquarters at 11am to give a statement. The notice was handed over by an MACC officer at Rosmah and Najib’s residence in Jalan Langgak Duta, said a source at the anti-graft body. Several MACC officers were also seen leaving the residence with a bag believed to contain documents taken from the residence.
Attention has focused on Rosmah after police discovered hundreds of luxury handbags and a stash of jewellery and cash during raids on apartments linked to Najib and his family.
Malaysian police have said cash of RM114 million (US$28.6 million) and more than 400 handbags were seized. Experts were being brought in to value the jewellery, watches and other seized items.
Najib, defeated in a stunning election loss last month by his mentor-turned-rival, Mahathir Mohamad, has become the subject of a money-laundering probe. He and Rosmah have been barred from leaving the country.
Najib also gave statements to MACC last month about a suspicious transfer of US$10.6 million to his bank account. SRC International was set up in 2011 by the previous Barisan Nasional government and was a unit of the scandal-plagued sovereign fund 1MDB before it was placed under the Finance Ministry in 2012.
Rosmah’s lawyers said on Tuesday that they were confident their client will be cleared by MACC.
“The credit cards are not under her name … No payment was made into her accounts,” said senior criminal lawyer K Kumaraendran, adding that his client was very composed and had expressed her willingness to cooperate in the probe. This is the first time that the 66-year-old has been summoned to answer questions relating to the ongoing 1MDB probe. According to a paper trail revealed by the former Attorney-General in January 2016, several credit card transactions linked to SRC International was made by Najib in December 2014. The transactions were allegedly payments for his wife’s shopping in luxury goods, which included handbags and jewellery.
