KUALA LUMPUR: The widely despised wife of Malaysia’s toppled prime minister will be questioned next week over a massive financial scandal that helped topple the former regime, state media reported on Friday.

Rosmah Mansor was unpopular due to her imperious manner and reported love of going on costly overseas shopping jaunts at a time middle-class Malaysians were struggling with rising living costs.

Corruption allegations swirling around her and her husband Najib Razak played a major part in the shock defeat of Najib’s long-ruling coalition at elections last month to a reformist alliance.

Najib, his family and cronies are accused of stealing billions of dollars from 1MDB in a sophisticated fraud that stretched from the Cayman Islands to Switzerland.

A summons was handed to Rosmah at her sprawling Kuala Lumpur home, and several MACC officers were seen leaving the residence, Ber­na­ma reported. Since his defeat, Najib has been questioned twice over SRC. He and 1MDB deny any wrongdoing.

According to an investigation by the Wall Street Journal, 42 million ringgit ($10.6 million) originating from SRC was transferred to Najib’s personal bank accounts, just one small part of the graft scandal.

During raids on properties linked to Najib and Rosmah after the election, police seized over 400 handbags and a huge stash of jewels and cash.

Australia ‘complicit’ in Malaysia corruption: Anwar

Leading Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim claimed on Friday that Australia was complicit in alleged corruption by the former government as he called on Canberra to send home a policeman implicated in a murder scandal.

Former opposition leader Anwar slammed Canberra’s “tainted” policy towards ousted prime minister Najib Razak’s administration, which was sensationally ous­ted in last month’s election.

Anwar, who was jailed by Najib in 2015 and released after the election, said Aust­ralia had always made “ext­remely supportive” statements about Najib’s administration.

He cited the high-profile case of a policeman, now in Australian custody, who fled Malaysia after being sentenced to hang for the killing of a Mongolian model linked to a Najib government bribery scandal.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2018