Malaysia ex-PM's wife to make defense in graft trial

A Malaysian court on Thursday ordered Rosmah Mansor, the wife of ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak, to enter her defense in a corruption trial linked to a 1.25 billion ringgit (310 million US dollars) solar energy project.

The ruling against Mansor was a blow just months after Najib was found guilty in the first of several corruption trials and sentenced to 12 years in jail, pending an appeal.

High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan said prosecutors had provided enough evidence to continue the case against Rosmah on three charges of soliciting bribes and receiving 6.5 million ringgit (1.6 million US dollars) between 2016 and 2017 to help a company secure a project to provide solar energy panels to schools on Borneo island.

Rosmah elected to testify, meaning she can be cross-examined by prosecutors. Najib, who was there to show support, rubbed her shoulders to console his wife after the judgment before leaving for his own graft trial in another courtroom.

After the judge set June 9 for her defense to begin, Rosmah left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.

The couple have been hit with multiple counts of graft after Najib was ousted in May 2018 elections, an event which was fueled by public anger over the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund.

Image: AP