Rosmah Mansor, Malaysia’s former first lady who was found guilty of bribery on Thursday, has been widely ridiculed in the past for her alleged taste for luxury and is routinely portrayed as incommunicado with ordinary citizens.
Her Supreme Court sentencing comes just nine days after her husband Najib Razak, Malaysia’s former prime minister, began serving a 12-year sentence on crimes related to the multi-billion dollar 1MDB financial scandal.
Rosmah was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a $216 million fine, but will not go to prison just yet as there is likely to be a lengthy appeals process.
Cartoonists have portrayed the glamorous collector of Hermes handbags alongside former Philippine first lady and well-known shoe lover Imelda Marcos – a spend-the-pocket woman who for years was a lightning rod for anger in her country over alleged corruption.
Here’s a quick look at Rosmah’s time in the public eye:
– From humble origins to tall perch –
Rosmah was born on December 10, 1951, the only child of a Malay headmaster and his teacher in the southern state of Negeri Sembilan.
In 1987 she married Najib Razak, with whom she had two children. It was a second marriage for both of them.
Najib became prime minister in 2009 and Rosmah made headlines two years later 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.
An angry writer for news portal Malaysia Today asked at the time: “What is she trying to do… to rule the country?”
– handbag hoard –
Rosmah has reportedly amassed an enormous collection of luxury handbags and is said to shop at Harrods in London, Chanel in Hawaii, Saks Fifth Avenue in New York and numerous jewelers in Hong Kong.
Her love for Hermes Birkin bags came to light after raids in 2018 in which police seized more than 500 handbags and 12,000 pieces of jewelry worth $270 million.
Police described the loot as the largest in Malaysian history. The raids targeted 12 locations, including Najib’s family home and apartments in a high-end condominium in Kuala Lumpur, as part of an investigation into a criminal breach of trust linked to state fund 1MDB.
But Najib claimed that the items confiscated were gifts.
– Rare Diamonds –
US investigators say Najib’s associates stole and laundered $4.5 billion from the 1MDB fund between 2009 and 2014, some of which ended up in Najib’s bank account.
They said $27.3 million was used to buy a rare diamond necklace for Rosmah.
In 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported that Rosmah had amassed at least $6 million in credit card fees, despite having no known source of income beyond her husband’s salary.
Rosmah once publicly complained that she had to pay 1,200 ringgit (US$268) to have her hair colored at a time when Malaysia’s minimum wage was 900 ringgit a month.
