KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 — Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor will be prosecuted over the controversial award of an RM1.25 billion Sarawak rural schools project, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) confirmed today.

The MACC said it has obtained approval from the Attorney General’s Chamber to charge the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak at the Sessions Court here tomorrow.

She is expected to face charges under Section 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009, the commission said in a statement.

The offence is punishable with a maximum jail term of 20 years, and a fine of RM10,000 or a fine five times the sum of the value of the bribe, whichever is higher.

According to the statement, Rosmah was detained around 1.45pm after she arrived to complete the final stages of the investigation into the case.

She was then released on bail.

In November last year, Rosmah and her former aide Datuk Rizal Mansor were charged with asking for bribes from a company to the tune of about one-sixth of a government contract’s value, just for helping the company win the RM1.25 billion project.

The project was for the supply of solar panel hybrid power systems and the maintenance and operation of electricity generators to 369 rural schools in Sarawak.

In her alleged role, she was charged with asking Jepak Holdings’ managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin to give her RM187.5 million, or 15 per cent of the contract’s value, as an inducement for her assistance to the company in getting the project through direct negotiations with the Education Ministry.

Rosmah was also charged with receiving RM1.5 million as a bribe over the same matter.

The court granted her RM1 million bail after she claimed trial to all the charges.