DATIN SERI Rosmah Mansor – the self-styled former ‘First Lady’ – is in the news again following a Lebanese jeweller’s application for a summary judgement.
The application is relating to the alleged return and failure to pay costs for various luxury items hand delivered to the wife of now incarcerated sixth premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Global Royalty Trading SAL has asked the Kuala Lumpur High Court to enter summary judgment against Rosmah in a lawsuit filed over 43 jewellery items worth US$14.57 mil.
In its application, the plaintiff claims that “her defence is clearly unsustainable in law or on the facts, averting the need for a full trial” and as such failed to put forward a “meritorious defence”.
Rosmah had claimed that the Lebanese jeweller had no reasonable cause of action against her and that the suit was filed in the wrong jurisdiction. It was argued that since the plaintiffs were relying on a primary document originating from New York, the suit should have been filed there instead.
To recap, the suit was filed in March where the plaintiff claimed that 43 items of jewellery was shipped to Rosmah in February 2018. These 43 items, however, were not among those confiscated during a police raid in May 2018. The suit is the second filed by Global Royalty Trading over the claim.
The earlier suit was filed on June 26, 2018 which was later withdrawn following forfeiture by the authorities of various luxury items from raids on several properties, including Rosmah’s house in Jalan Duta.
Items seized included jewellery, watches, handbags as well as cash. Global Royalty Trading had taken part in the forfeiture proceedings as a third-party claimant.
Failed forfeiture
The plaintiffs claimed that it had hand delivered 44 items of jewellery, each worth between US$124,000 and US$925,000, to Rosmah which she acknowledged receipt of. However, she claimed the jewellery was no longer in her possession because it was seized and placed under the custody of the authorities.
As reported by Free Malaysia Today (FMT), the prosecution had in 2019 filed a forfeiture application against Obyu Holdings to seize various items, including 11,991 units of jewellery, 401 watch straps and 16 watch accessories, 234 pairs of spectacles and 306 handbags as well as cash in various denominations amounting to RM114,164,393.44 (RM114.16 mil).
Of the jewellery items seized during the raid, Global Royalty said it found a diamond bracelet worth US$220,000 (RM1.01 mil) which it claimed was part of the consignment. The remaining 43 items remain unaccounted for.
Last November, the government failed in its bid to forfeit the jewellery items after the High Court dismissed the application. They were returned to Rosmah following the prosecution’s failure to show that the items were purchased from proceeds of unlawful activities related to the 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Bhd) scandal.
The government did not file any appeal from that decision. – Aug 11, 2023
