KUALA LUMPUR: A high-end Lebanese jewellery firm which sued Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor demanding the return of 44 pieces of jewellery claimed that not all the pieces were among the items seized from premises linked to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Counsel Datuk David Gurupatham, representing Global Royalty Trading (SAL), said his client had confirmed that it had inspected 12,000 pieces of jewellery seized by police in a series of raids shortly after the 14th general election (GE14) last year.
“The plaintiff (Global Royalty) has inspected the seized jewellery and has made a statement to the police that not all the pieces are there. So this has to be verified.
“After the list (of items seized) is gazetted, we can verify if all the pieces are there,” he said.
However, Gurupatham said he could not confirm how many pieces were identified as belonging to Global Royalty, as the necessary documents needed to be filed first.
"We can't say how many pieces are there because we have not filed the necessary documents. Once we file the documents we will be able to explain the position,” he said.
Gurupatham said his client had also sought to become an intervenor in the government’s forfeiture suit against the items seized purportedly belonging to Rosmah and 17 others.
“We have written to the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) to ask for the details of the forfeiture suit. They have replied and so now we will intervene in the action.
“We will stake a claim in respect of the pieces of jewellery which are there. If they are not there, we will proceed with trial,” he said after the matter came up for case management before judicial commissioner Wong Chee Lin.
Gurupatham said the suit had been scheduled for Sept 17 and will continue from Oct 21 to 24.
On June 26 last year, Global Royalty sued Rosmah, demanding that she return the 44 items sent to her for viewing purposes, or to pay the full price of all the items which amounted to US$14.79 million.
In its statement of claim, Global Royalty said Rosmah was a long-time regular customer and that it would usually send her jewellery consignments upon her request.
Rosmah would then evaluate and purchase the jewellery of her choice with the payment made either by herself or a third party.
It claimed that on Feb 10 the same year, it sent 44 pieces of jewellery to Rosmah, which included diamond necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets and a tiara, each costing between US$124,000 and US$925,000.
The company, which supplies jewellery to royalty as well as renowned clients from around the world, claimed that unselected jewellery would usually be returned, and in certain circumstances, Rosmah would borrow the jewellery and return it to the plaintiff later.
Meanwhile, the forfeiture suit which was filed by the Chambers on May 7 over hundreds of items seized from Najib, Rosmah, their three children and 13 other people and companies is scheduled for case management on May 30 before High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan.