Corruption is Everywhere > Former Malaysian 1st Lady Fined and Imprisoned; Another Russian Tycoon dies mysteriously; Suu Kyi - 3 years at Hard Labour

..

Ex-Malaysian PM Najib's wife Rosmah gets 10 years' jail,

fined $303m for corruption

Ram Anand

Malaysia Correspondent

The Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR - Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, was sentenced to 10 years' jail and fined RM970 million (S$303 million) for graft on Thursday, just over a week after her husband was jailed when Malaysia's highest court affirmed his corruption conviction.

Rosmah, 70, was found guilty by Malaysia's High Court of soliciting a total of RM194 million in bribes to help solar energy firm Jepak Holdings secure a RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project for hundreds of schools in Sarawak in 2016.

The sentence is stayed pending her appeal against conviction. She is allowed to remain out on bail, which has been maintained at RM2 million.

Rosmah, who referred to herself as the former First Lady of Malaysia, was in tears as she addressed the court after the verdict was announced.

“I must admit that I’m very sad with what happened today,” she said. “Nobody saw me taking the money, nobody saw me counting the money... but if that’s the conclusion, I leave it to God.”

Rosmah Mansor (centre) is escorted by Royal Malaysia Police officers as she arrives at Kuala Lumpur

High Court, on Sept 1, 2022. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

Delivering his decision on the graft case, Justice Zaini Mazlan said that he found  Rosmah’s defence was a bare denial and unsubstantiated.

“The prosecution has succeeded in proving its case beyond reasonable doubt. The accused is therefore guilty of all three charges,” he said. He later sentenced her to 10 years' imprisonment for each charge but ruled that the sentences are to run concurrently.

Russian Lukoil head dies after falling from hospital window

By Matt Bernardini

   

Lukoil Chairman Ravil Maganov died Thursday after reportedly falling out of his hospital window.

Photo courtesy of Lukoil

Sept. 1 (UPI) -- The chairman of Russian oil giant Lukoil died Thursday after reportedly falling out of his hospital window.

Ravil Maganov, 67, fell from his window at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow. Lukoil issued a statement on Thursday saying that Maganov died "after a severe illness," but did not specify the cause.

"Ravil Maganov immensely contributed to the development of not only the Company, but of the entire Russian oil and gas sector," the statement read.

Lukoil was one of few Russian businesses' to publicly criticize President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The company's board of directors called for an end to the war in early March, within days of the full-scale invasion of Russia's neighbor, according to NBC News.

Lukoil is Russia's biggest private company. Maganov had served on Lukoil's board of directors since 2020, and served as the company's first executive vice president since 1994.

April - a tough month for oligarchs

Maganov is one of several high-profile Russian oligarchs who have died under mysterious circumstances since the war began.

According to the BBC, the body of millionaire Novatek former manager Sergei Protosenya was found alongside his wife and daughter at a Spanish villa on April 19.

Vladislav Avayev, a former vice-president of Gazprombank, was found dead with his wife and daughter in Moscow on April 18.

And Alexander Subbotin, a former Lukoil tycoon, died of heart failure on April 9 after seeking alternative treatment from a shaman.

What is it about the most Buddhist country in the world that allows it to be run by a brutal, dishonest, greedy military?

Myanmar's Suu Kyi sentenced to three years for electoral fraud

AFP - Thursday

A Myanmar junta court sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to three years in jail "with hard labour" on Friday, for electoral fraud in the 2020 polls that her party won in a landslide, a source said. 

Protesters call for Aung San Suu Kyi's release during a rally in Yangon last year. © STR

The latest sentence, handed down by the closed court, takes the total jail time the Nobel laureate and democracy figurehead is facing to two decades. 

She was "sentenced to three years' imprisonment with hard labour", a source with knowledge of the case said, adding that Suu Kyi, 77, appeared to be in good health.

Her lawyers would appeal the ruling, the source added.

Detained since a coup last year, Suu Kyi had already been convicted of corruption and a clutch of other charges by a closed junta court and sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Journalists have been barred from proceedings in the military-built capital Naypyidaw and her lawyers have been prevented from speaking to the press.

Ex-president Win Myint, who was on trial for the same charge, also received a jail sentence of three years, the source said.

A junta spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

The military alleged widespread voter fraud during the November 2020 election, won resoundingly by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), although international observers said the poll was largely free and fair.

The military has since cancelled the result and said it uncovered more than 11 million instances of voter fraud.

BLM leader is accused of pilfering $10M from the organization by local

chapters who say he used it like 'personal piggy bank' in explosive lawsuit

BLMGNF board member Shalomyah Bowers was named in the new lawsuit 

Suit calls him a 'rogue administrator' who stole more than $10M in donations

The suit was filed by other BLM organizers who say they deserved the funds

BLMGFN furiously denied the allegations as 'harmful, divisive, and false'

By KEITH GRIFFITH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 17:28 EDT, 3 September 2022 | UPDATED: 12:01 EDT, 4 September 2022

The full story is available at The Daily Mail

===========================================================================================