KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 — Lawyers for Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor denied today claims linking recent cash deposits in the prime minister’s wife’s bank account as injections from state-owned 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
In a statement, law firm Messrs Noorhajran Mohd Noor confirmed the bank account in Affin Bank Berhad belonged to Rosmah, adding that she had opened it 31 years ago in 1984 when she was working with Island & Peninsular Sdn Bhd and back when the bank was called Perwira Habib Bank.
“My client have [sic] not committed any criminal offence or any misappropriation of funds and strongly denies any links to the funds being from 1MDB.
“The report is deemed to be indecent, menacing, false, and is intended to annoy or harass my client,” the firm said in a statement carried by national news agency Bernama.
The lawyers’ statement follows on the heels of another announcement by a special government task force investigating the debt-riddled statement fund earlier this evening, confirming it was investigating Rosmah’s bank account.
The statement also criticised Sarawak Report editor-in-chief Clare Rewcastle Brown though it made no mention of court action for the contentious article.
“By issuing improper and incorrect reporting against my client and in the spirit of responsible journalism must stand and justify by the story it reports.
“My client appeals for responsible reporting of any facts, to have ethical and moral obligations of fairness and accuracy,” the statement added.
Speculation over deposits of some RM2 million into an Affin Bank Berhad account said to belong to Rosmah spread after London-based whistleblower site Sarawak Report questioned the origin of the funds yesterday.
Sarawak Report has been casting aspersions on cash deposits into personal bank accounts purportedly owned by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as well, around the same time US-based daily Wall Street Journal ran an explosive report claiming nearly US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) was moved out of 1MDB in the months leading to the May 5, 2013 general elections.
Najib has denied taking funds from 1MDB for “personal gain” and his lawyers have since asked the WSJ to state if the newspaper is accusing the prime minister of misappropriating funds.
The task force has since frozen six bank accounts, though none of them are owned by the prime minister.
