Rosmah Mansor will apply to suspend jewellery lawsuit proceedings, govt yet to verify where items are: Lawyer
13 February, 2019
The wife of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak will apply to suspend the proceedings of a lawsuit filed against her by Lebanese jewellery company Global Royalty Trading SAL, her lawyer told reporters on Monday (Feb 11).
Rosmah Mansor is being sued by the Beirut-based wholesale jewellery firm, which has demanded she return 44 pieces of jewellery allegedly sent to her on consignment or pay almost RM60 million (US$14.79 million) for all the items.
Lawyer N Rajivan, who is representing Rosmah, said the application was necessary because the government had yet to verify whether the jewellery was in the possession of the police or Rosmah.
Judicial Commissioner Wong Chee Lin has set Feb 25 to hear the application, after he was informed of Rosmah's intention to file the application, said the lawyer.
"We will file the application to suspend proceedings until the end of the seizure period of the jewellery. We will file it before Feb 25," Rajivan told reporters after the management of the case in Wong's chambers.
Rajivan said he and fellow counsel Reza Rahim believed the deadline of the seizure period of the jewellery was May.
The jewellery firm's lawyer G David said the court had also ordered the government to file a statement of defence as the second defendant in the suit, and that the trial had been set for Mar 4 and 5.
Malaysia's government last August succeeded in its application to become an intervener in the suit and was named as second defendant.
The government had sought to be part of Global Royalty’s suit against Rosmah on the grounds that the jewellery belonged to the government and was bought with stolen money.
Rosmah has denied purchasing any of the jewellery, saying the items were delivered to her for viewing by virtue of the fact that she was the wife of the then-prime minister of Malaysia, on the plaintiff’s own accord and volition and without there being any obligation for her to purchase the jewellery.
The items were among the money, jewellery, luxury handbags, luxury watches and other items worth an estimated RM1.1 billion which were seized from premises linked to Najib.
The former prime minister on Monday succeeded in a last-ditch bid to delay the start of his trial over the 1MDB scandal, one of the major reasons for his election defeat.
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