Rosmah pleads not guilty to all 17 charges of money laundering worth RM7 million

First time in court.

Zhangxin Zheng | October 04, 2018, 12:50 PM

Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, was arrested on Oct. 3 and brought to court on Oct. 4 morning.

Brought to court after a night lockup

According to The Star, Rosmah appeared in court to face charges under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act.

This was after she spent a night in lock-up at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters.

She left the premises at 7.45am and was brought to the KL sessions court at 8.30am, escorted by police and anti-graft officers.

Rosmah's arrest occurred after more than four hours of questioning at the MACC headquarters.

The arrest was confirmed later that Wednesday at 3.20pm.

However, Rosmah’s lawyers said previously they were unaware of the nature of the charges that would be brought against their client.

This was the first time that she was formally charged in relation to money laundering activities.

Rosmah, 66, will go down in Malaysian history as the first wife of a prime minister to be indicted.

Pleaded not guilty

Rosmah pleaded not guilty to all 17 charges of money laundering at the Sessions Court. The amount involved in the charges is understood to be about RM7 million.

Bail was suggested at RM10 million and the public prosecutor did not oppose bail.

The prosecutor claimed that Rosmah had approached a witness to make a statement to help with her case. The prosecutor then made a request for Rosmah to not approach any witnesses.

He also requested for Rosmah's passport to be retained.

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In her defence, Rosmah's lawyer asked for a much lower bail of RM250,000, claiming the purpose of the bail is to secure her attendance.

Her legal team also emphasised that she has been cooperative and had no prior offences.

The judge eventually allowed Rosmah to be bailed at RM2 million, retained her passport and forbade her from approaching any witnesses.

The next trial for Rosmah is scheduled on Nov. 8.

On the same day, Najib appeared at high court separately for a case management of three counts of criminal breach of trust, one charge of abuse of power and three counts of money laundering.

Top photo from screenshot of The Star