Former Malaysian PM Najib's wife arrested on corruption charges
Kuala Lumpur, Oct 3: The wife of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was arrested on Wednesday on money-laundering charges related to a corruption scandal.
Rosmah Mansor, 66, was arrested by Malaysia's Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and will face several money laundering charges, Efe news reported citing a statement.
This was Rosmah's third appearance in front of commission after she was interrogated on June 5 and September 26.
She was questioned over the alleged diversion of funds from the state-owned 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fund to the couple's private accounts.
Her husband was also questioned by the police on Wednesday, having been released on bail last Friday after being charged with 25 fresh charges of money-laundering and abuse of power.
Najib, 65, has been charged with 32 counts of corruption in 1MDB, which he founded in 2009 and presided over till 2016.
A news report in 2015 alleged that Najib had diverted $681 million from 1MDb into his personal account.
He denied the allegations, saying the money was a donation from a Saudi prince. He was cleared by Malaysian authorities while in power.
The case was reopened after a change in government in May and new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad banned his predecessor and wife from leaving the country pending an investigation.
Six other countries, including the US, Switzerland and Singapore, opened probes into the embezzlement and diversion of funds from the 1MDB, a fund established to attract foreign investment which accumulated a debt of 42 billion ringgit (around $10 billion).
The US Department of Justice estimated that about $4.5 billion were diverted from 1MDB, of which about $1 billion could have been laundered in the US through the purchase of real estate, yachts, jewellery and works of art, among other goods.
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Supreme Court rejects plea for reverting to ballots in elections
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking to revert to ballot paper voting in elections in the country.
"What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs (electronic voting machine) are not tampered. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with)," remarked a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale.
Apart from ballot paper voting, the plea sought several directions including a directive to the Election Commission to disqualify candidates for a minimum of five years if found guilty of distributing money, liquor or other material inducement to the voters during polls.
When petitioner-in-person K A Paul said he filed the PIL, the bench said, "You have interesting PILs. How do you get these brilliant ideas?".
The petitioner said he is the president of an organisation which has rescued over three lakh orphans and 40 lakh widows.
"Why are you getting into this political arena? Your area of work is very different," the bench retorted.
After Paul revealed he had been to over 150 countries, the bench asked him whether each of the nations had ballot paper voting or used electronic voting.
The petitioner said foreign countries had adopted ballot paper voting and India should follow suit.
"Why you don't want to be different from the rest of the world?" asked the bench.
There was corruption and this year (2024) in June, the Election Commission announced they had seized Rs 9,000 crore, Paul responded.
"But how does that make your relief which you are claiming here relevant?" asked the bench, adding "if you shift back to physical ballot, will there be no corruption?".
Paul claimed CEO and co-founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, stated that EVMs could be tampered with and added TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, the current chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, and former state chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had claimed EVMs could be tampered with.
"When Chandrababu Naidu lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with. Now this time, Jagan Mohan Reddy lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with," noted the bench.
When the petitioner said everybody knew money was distributed in elections, the bench remarked, "We never received any money for any elections."
The petitioner said another prayer in his plea was the formulation of a comprehensive framework to regulate the use of money and liquor during election campaigns and ensuring such practices were prohibited and punishable under the law.
The plea further sought a direction to mandate an extensive voter education campaign to raise awareness and importance of informed decision making.
"Today, 32 per cent educated people are not casting their votes. What a tragedy. If democracy will be dying like this and we will not be able to do anything then what will happen in the years to come in future," the petitioner said.
