Deepak tells Al Jazeera: Rosmah was 'de facto prime minister', and plain greedy

KUALA LUMPUR (May 9): Deepak Jaikishan has described Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor (pictured) as the “de facto prime minister” when the Barisan Nasional was still in power.

Deepak, former close friend and business associate of Najib, was speaking during an interview with international broadcaster Al Jazeera.

“She’s just plain greedy. She wants it all.

“The diamonds, especially the expensive, priceless pieces, were her way of keeping their money. It’s an easy way for her to siphon off the money and to keep it in a very simple place,” Deepak told Al Jazeera’s Mary Ann Jolley.

“It came to a point where every project had to go through her. 

“They never imagined they would lose the election. They never imagined the police would raid their house,” he went on.

Deepak also described to Jolley about jewellers allegedly visiting Rosmah’s home with him and being told to settle the payments directly with the jeweller after she picked the jewellery she wanted.

Parts of the interview were provided by Al Jazeera in a statement to the media today.

Rosmah currently faces 17 charges of money laundering and tax evasion.

She has also been charged over policing bribes in exchange for a government contract

The third and final episode of Al Jazeera’s programme “Malaysia: Power and Corruption” will be broadcasted at 6.30am tomorrow.  

Rosmah currently faces 17 charges of money laundering. She has also been slapped with two counts of graft for allegedly soliciting RM187.5 million as a bribe and allegedly receiving RM1.5 million as a bribe in exchange for assisting a company obtain a solar hybrid power project deal in Sarawak.