Rosmah Mansor, the wife of Malaysia’s ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak, was found guilty of bribery on Thursday, just over a week after her husband began serving a 12-year sentence.
“The defendant was found guilty on all three counts,” High Court Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan said as Rosmah sat quietly in the dock.
The judge added that her defense was “blatant denial and unfounded.”
The Kuala Lumpur court began mitigating Thursday afternoon ahead of the sentencing.
Even after that, Rosmah will not go straight to jail pending a potentially lengthy appeals process.
Prosecutors said Rosmah asked for a bribe of 187.5 million ringgit ($41.8 million) and received 6.5 million ringgit for helping a company launch a rural solar energy project during her husband’s rule Secure schools in the Malaysian part of Borneo.
She still faces 17 other charges of tax evasion and money laundering.
The 70-year-old has long been snubbed by Malaysians for her allegedly vast collection of designer handbags, clothes and jewelry, picked up on jet-setter shopping trips overseas.
Born the only child of two teachers in the south of the country, Rosmah rose to become one of Malaysia’s most influential figures.
She made headlines a decade ago for establishing a new entity under the prime minister’s office known as “FLOM,” an acronym for First Lady of Malaysia. The full-fledged department, which caused a stir among critics, was tasked with meeting Rosmah’s operational needs.
Her love of luxury, and Hermes Birkin bags in particular, came under the spotlight after raids in 2018 in which police seized more than 500 handbags and 12,000 pieces of jewelry valued at an estimated $270 million.
This has drawn unflattering comparisons to former Filipino first lady and famous shoe addict Imelda Marcos – a spending wife who for years was a lightning rod for anger over alleged corruption.
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On Thursday, Rosmah appeared in court in a peach-colored traditional Malay dress and shawl with a floral print and matching face mask, accompanied by police.
Her son and daughter also attended the trial.
Her disgraced husband Najib was jailed nine days ago on a first batch of charges related to the multi-billion dollar sovereign wealth fund 1MDB financial scandal that toppled his government in 2018.
He is currently on trial on four other charges. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison for abuse of power and up to 15 years in prison for money laundering.
Rosmah’s reputation had fueled accusations that the ousted ruling establishment had lost touch with economically struggling middle-class Malaysians.
The 1MDB scandal sparked investigations in the US, Switzerland and Singapore, whose financial systems are believed to have been misused for money laundering.
The US Department of Justice said that between 2009 and 2015, more than $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB by senior fund officials and their associates.
