馬來西亞前第一夫人面臨洗錢指控

The wife of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was charged with 17 offenses Thursday, including money laundering, as anti-graft agents investigate billions of dollars missing from state coffers.

Najib, who lost office in May, faces 32 charges from money laundering to abuse of power and criminal breach of trust over billions of dollars that went missing from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). He has denied any wrongdoing.

It was not clear if the charges against Rosmah relate to 1MDB, but Rosmah's arrest came after three rounds of questioning by anti-graft agents over 1MDB, from which U.S. authorities say more than $4.5 billion was misappropriated. Last Wednesday, Rosmah was questioned for nearly 13 hours.

Rosmah was charged with activities using illegal proceeds and failing to declare income tax, both covered under the anti-money laundering law.

The money laundering charges carry a penalty of up to 15 years in jail and a fine of not less than five times the value of the proceeds of any illegal transfers, or 5 million ringgit ($1.21 million), whichever is higher.

Najib also appeared at another courtroom in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday for a pretrial hearing, as he faces multiple charges in relation to about $10.6 million allegedly transferred into his account from SRC International, a former unit of scandal-ridden state fund 1MDB. Najib has plead not guilty.

Malaysians have been outraged by the seizure of around $275 million worth of cash and goods, including a vast collection of Hermes Birkin and other designer handbags, jewelry and watches from properties linked to Najib and Rosmah.

1MDB is now the subject of money laundering probes in over six countries, including the U.S., Switzerland and Singapore.在馬來西亞反貪機構調查國庫流失數十億美元案件之際，馬來西亞前首相納吉布的妻子週四被指控犯有包括洗錢在內的17項罪名。

納吉布今年5月份下臺後面對32項指控，涉及有關馬來西亞主權基金數十億美元失蹤的濫權和違反信託義務等犯罪行爲。他否認有任何不法行爲。

目前尚不清楚對他的妻子羅斯瑪的指控是否與一馬基金有關，但她在被逮捕之前，接收了反貪機構針對一馬基金對她進行的三輪質詢，美國當局稱有超過45億美元從這一基金中被盜。上週三，羅斯瑪被審問了將近13個小時。

羅斯瑪被控使用非法收益和未申報所得稅，這兩項罪名都被列於反洗錢法中。

洗錢指控最高可判處15年監禁，並處以不低於任何非法轉讓收益價值五倍的罰款，或500萬林吉特（121萬美元），以高者爲準。

納吉布於週四在吉隆坡的另一個法庭接受審前聽證，他因涉嫌從SRC國際轉入他個人賬戶的1060萬美元面臨多起指控，SRC國際是醜聞纏身的一馬基金的前身。納吉布作出無罪抗辯。

馬來西亞人對於從與納吉布夫婦有關的房產中查獲價值約2.75億美元的現金和物品到憤怒，其中包括大量的愛馬仕和其他設計師手袋、珠寶和手錶等。

目前包括美國、瑞士和新加坡在內的6個國家都在對一馬基金進行洗錢調查。