The wife of ex-Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has been sentenced to ten years in prison on each of three bribery charges.
Rosmah Mansor was found guilty on three charges of soliciting and receiving bribes to help a company win a 1.25bn ringgit project ($279m, £240m).
The High Court said the jail terms would run concurrently.
Rosmah, who had pleaded not guilty, sat quietly in the dock as High Court judge Zaini Mazlan delivered the verdict on Thursday afternoon.
“I must admit that I’m very sad with what happened today,” she said tearfully to the judge after the verdict was delivered, according to a Reuters report.
“Nobody saw me taking the money, nobody saw me counting the money…. but if that’s the conclusion, I leave it to God.”
She has also been fined a total of 970m ringgit. However, it is unclear when she will start serving a prison sentence, as she has been granted a stay of execution pending her appeal.
Najib and his wife are at the centre of a sprawling investigation spanning six countries over their alleged involvement in state-owned wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
When Malaysian police raided the couple’s properties in Kuala Lumpur after Najib’s shock election defeat in May 2018, they found a $1.6m gold and diamond necklace, 14 tiaras and 272 Hermes bags and came out wheeling shopping trolleys piled high with 284 designer handbags, still in their boxes.
The 70 years old is known for her love of luxury goods and jewellery, some costing many thousands of dollars, Rosmah’s reputation as a Malaysian Imelda Marcos, or even a Lady Macbeth figure.
Prosecutors claimed Rosmah had sought a bribe of 187.5m ringgit and received 6.5m ringgit from an official of a company that won the bid for a solar energy project.
She had earlier argued that she was framed by her former aide as well as other officials involved in the project, but the judge called her defence “bare denial.
Her legal team had also filed a last-ditch application on Wednesday to get the presiding judge recused. They argued that an alleged leaked document which stated that her guilty verdict had been decided ahead of time had left her with no faith in the judge’s ability to hear the case fairly.
But Judge Mazlan dismissed the recusal application, saying the prosecution had proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The sentencing was praised by a Malaysian civil society group.
“Justice has been served for the people of Malaysia,” Mandeep Singh, former secretariat manager of Bersih 2.0 told the BBC.
“For the people of Malaysia, we can’t stop here. [Rosmah] can still appeal, but we hope that eventually she will join her husband.
He was sentenced last Tuesday to 12 years’ jail and a fine of 210m ringgit.
