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| A unverified picture of the once powerful First Couple, seeing this picture and being the Holy Month of RamadanI memang I rasa kesian for them, but it's unavoidable ... Too Much has happened during their time in power, PM Najib has the power to correct the wrong doings but he didn't. They never realized the Mahathir Tsunami by the rakyat could topple them. NOW the Rule of Law must take its course. The Rakyat have spoken through the GE14 Election Results and the majority wants action to be taken against all who did wrong in the previous government starting with the first couple - BEST FBKL |
‘Cash is king’: The fall of Malaysia’s disgraced first couple
AFP | May 18, 2018
FREE MALAYSIA TODAY
Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor face a tightening noose as a new government that unexpectedly won elections last week ramps up investigations into allegations of graft and excess.
Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor had towered over Malaysia for a decade. (AFP pic)
KUALA LUMPUR: With his scandal-tainted career and her reputation as greedy and domineering, Malaysia’s disgraced former first couple look set to have their names etched in the country’s history books as synonyms for the corruption of power.
Seemingly secure just a week ago, Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor face a tightening noose as a new government that unexpectedly won elections last week ramps up investigations into allegations of graft and excess that have hung over the pair for years.
The fast-moving developments are a stunning comeuppance for a couple that have towered over Malaysia for a decade but ultimately were brought down by greed and hubris.
The bland patrician son of one of Malaysia’s founding fathers, Najib, now 64, had been groomed for the prime minister’s post from young.
He took over in 2009 but was widely viewed in Malaysia as being heavily influenced by Rosmah, who is two years his senior.
Najib headed the once-invincible ruling coalition that had held power for six decades, but the couple were never embraced by large numbers of ordinary Malaysians.
The UK-educated Najib was seen by many as an aloof elitist with little understanding of Malaysia’s common citizenry, a perception accentuated by frequent tone-deaf gaffes and policies such as the 2015 introduction of a sales tax unpopular with the poor and now set to be eliminated.
Rosmah, meanwhile, has been a constant lightning rod for critics due to her imperious manner and elaborately coiffed mane of hair, which she once complained cost her RM1,200 (US$300) per house-call from stylists. Malaysia’s minimum monthly wage at the time was RM900.
That and similar episodes caused her to be reviled in a multi-cultural country where most of the population are modest-living Muslims.
Handbag fetish
Opponents would leak flight plans allegedly tracking Rosmah’s shopping jaunts aboard government planes to Rome, the US and Australia.
Her luxurious tastes included numerous reports of jewellery purchases costing tens of millions of dollars and a vast collection of designer handbags that has earned comparisons to the famed shoe collection of Imelda Marcos, wife of former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Rosmah’s bag fetish was back in the spotlight today, with officials saying they had seized dozens of high-end Hermes and Louis Vuitton bags, cash, and jewels as part of an investigation into the alleged looting of state funds by Najib, his family and cronies.
Rosmah last month waved off criticism, saying, “In politics, we just have to go through it and smile, and that is the best medicine for them (critics).”
New Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said that Najib told him in a private conversation in 2015 that “cash is king” in maintaining political support in Malaysia, a phrase that opponents have turned against Najib as a sign of his hubris and corruption.
Money and power seemed to work as a firewall against Najib through a scandal involving Malaysia’s 2002 purchase of French submarines while he was defence minister, a deal brokered by a close associate of his.
Allegations later emerged of huge kickbacks to Malaysian officials to secure the deal, and the scandal was punctuated by the murder of a Mongolian woman, Altantuya Shaariibuu, who was involved in the negotiations.
Her body was blown up near Kuala Lumpur using military-grade explosives.
Two officers in a special unit that guarded Malaysian ministers were convicted of the killing, but suspicion that Najib and Rosmah were involved has hovered for years, with Najib at one point being forced to deny he had an affair with the 28-year-old Altantuya.
Final straw
But the final straw was 1MDB.
Public disgust with reports that began to emerge four years ago detailing the plundering of the sovereign wealth fund snowballed into last week’s Mahathir-led electoral tsunami that now has Najib in police cross-hairs.
Billions of dollars are said to be missing in the scandal, nearly US$700 million of which was deposited into Najib’s bank account alone.
US authorities say Najib’s entourage used hundreds of millions in diverted 1MDB funds to purchase high-end real estate in Beverly Hills, New York and London, a Monet painting for US$35 million, a US$5.5 million Van Gogh, a US$35 million Bombardier jet and to finance the 2013 Hollywood film “The Wolf of Wall Street”.
A 2015 investigative report by the New York Times also alleged that millions of dollars were used to purchase jewellery for Rosmah.
Najib has steadfastly denied wrongdoing, while persecuting his accusers and shutting down media outlets that reported on the affair.
Having now lost the protections of power, Najib and Rosmah face a growing public groundswell to see them jailed.
As if sensing this, the once-defiant Najib tweeted after the election: “I apologise for any shortcomings and mistakes.”
But the couple’s fall triggers mixed feelings in political cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque.
Zunar, as he is popularly known, has skewered the couple for years, particularly Rosmah’s huge hair and diamond lust, earning a sedition charge that he now expects to be dropped.
“I would love to see her arrested by the police. I think most Malaysians think like me,” he told AFP.
But he called Rosmah his “inspiration”.
From Sumisha Naidu Channel News Asia Twitter:
Items seized by Polis from the Private Residence of Dato Seri Najib at Jalan Langgak Duta
Items seized by Polis from the Private Residence of Dato Seri Najib at Jalan Langgak Duta
1. Satu kotak Chanel mengandungi satu beg tangan bewarna merah jambu berlambang CC
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7. Satu kotak Chanel mengandungi satu beg tangan bewarna merah berlambang CC
8. Satu kotak Chanel mengandungi satu beg tangan bewarna -pink- berlambang CC
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Barangan diatas dijumpai di ruang surau rumah tersebut.
16. Satubuah beg tangan Versace berwarna black w/stone
17. Satubuah beg tangan Versace berwarna purple w/green and blue
18. Satubuah beg tangan Gucci berwarna royal blue velvateberlambang "cc"
19. Satubuah beg tangan Gucci berwarna green leather
20. Satubuah beg tangan Gucci berwarna white navy"s red/flower embroidery
21. Satubuah beg tangan Gucci berwarna red leather
22. Satubuah beg tanga Oscar De La Rentaberwarna peach satin w/stone
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24. Satubuah beg tangan Oscar De La Rentaberwan peach pink snake skin
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28. Satubuah beg tangan Gucci berwarna pink white mixed color green & burgundy
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30. Satubuah beg tangan Prada berwarna brown w beige color
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32. Satubuah beg tangan Versace berwarnapink embroidery
33. Satubuah beg tangan Versace berwarnablue purple
34. Satubuah beg tangan Michael Kors berwarna orange
35. Satubuah beg tanganberwarnahitam (Velentino)
36. Satubuah beg tangan Versace berwarna black
37. Satubuah beg tangan Channel berwarna red medium
38. Satubuah beg tangan Dolce Gabbana berwarna black
39. Satubuah beg tangan Gucci berwarna red
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44. Satubuah beg tangan Louis Vuitton berwarna off white shining
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Barangan diatas dijumpai di stor rumah tersebut.
51. Satu unit jam tangan berwarna perak bermuka warna hitam jenama Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day Date
52. Satu unit jam tangan kulit hitam bermuka warna perang jenama Rolex Oyster Perpetual Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified Cosmograph
53. Satu unit jam tangan kulit hitam bermuka hitam jenama Rolex Sky - Oweller Oyster Perpetual Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified
54. Satu unit jam tangan warna perak (putih) jenama Rolex Cosmograph Day - Tona
55. Satu unit jam tangan warna perak bermuka hitam jenama Rolex Cosmograph
56. Satu unit jam tangan perak bermuka putih jenama Oyster Cosmograph
57. Satu unit jam tangan kulit berwarna coklat bermuka kelabu jenama Patek Philippe Geneve
58. Satu unit jam tangan bertali getah hitam jenama Richard Mille
59. Satu unit jam tangan berwarna perak bermuka hitam jenama Rolex Oyster Perpetual Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified Cosmograph
60. Satu unit jam tangan bertali getah biru jenama Hublot
61. Pounds Sterling 2700
62. Wang tunai RM 537,000.00
63. Wang tunai Rupees Sri Lanka 2,870,000.00
Barangan diatas dijumpai di bilik Nur Ashman Razak Bin Dato Sri Mohd Najib.
64. Dua unit beg Roberto Cavalli
Barangan diatas dijumpai di bilik stor pakaian tingkat 1
