Aussie columnist says 'more' spending sprees by Rosmah

Two days after claiming that the prime minister's wife Rosmah Mansor had spent some A$100,000 (RM325,000) on clothes designed by celebrity designer Carl Kapp, an Australian gossip columnist remains unapologetic over his article which has become a focus of Malaysian politics.

Greeting his Malaysian followers on his Twitter account, Andrew Hornery, who writes on the 'Private Sydney' section of the Sydney Morning Herald, hinted that there could be more similar purchases by Rosmah than what he had revealed.

"Greeting Good morning to my new Malaysian followers.

"FLOM is quite a source of fascination, no doubt she bought more in Sydney we are yet to discover," he twitted referring to the acronym of Rosmah's controversial title 'First Lady of Malaysia'.

The remarks by Hornery, considered one of Australia's most famous gossip columnists, came hours before a denial by Rosmah when pressed by reporters for comments.

"I'm a victim. It's wildly exaggerated. Please be fair to me," she was quoted as saying by The Star while attending a Chinese New Year open house, and added that Kapp would be issuing his response soon.

Stay at The Darling

Besides claiming that Rosmah had Kapp flown to Malaysia to complete her order for "61 dresses, pants and tops", Hornery also alleged that she had dropped by the fashion designer's boutique in Sydney and spent A$100,000.

Quoting Kapp as saying that Rosmah had "a very good eye for colour and she likes a lot of prints", Hornery also claimed that both Rosmah and her husband Najib Razak had recently stayed at the A$20,000-a-night penthouse at luxury Sydney hotel, The Darling.

Earlier, PAS vice president Mahfuz Omar said there had been too many negative reports implicating Rosmah published by the foreign media, and urged Rosmah and Najib to come clean by suing such media for libel.

"If despite the many reports, they (Najib and Rosmah) still are not taking court action, people would believe that whatever has been reported about Najib and his family is the truth," Mahfuz told Harakahdaily.

This is the second such report showing alleged extravagant lifestyle involving Najib's family members.

Last October, The West Australian reported that Najib's daughter had spent A$60,000 (RM195,000) on shopping during a sight-seeing tour for delegates and families attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth. It also said an unidentified "first lady" spent A$150,000 (RM488,000) for West Australian pearls from a department store.

The paper however later retracted the report, though it did not shed any light on the anonymous "first lady"

-Harakahdaily