KUALA LUMPUR: A well-known wholesale jeweller from Lebanon will resume a lawsuit against Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor to recover 44 pieces of jewellery worth US$14.79 million (RM60 million).
This after Global Royalty Trading SAL found out that only one out of the 44 pieces of jewellery that was sent to Rosmah for viewing three years ago were seized by the police.
Global Royalty's lawyer Datuk David Gurupatham when contacted said they had filed an affidavit at the High Court to confirm the discovery from Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) vault.
"My client only found one piece of jewellery worth USD 220,000 after inspecting about 12,000 jewelleries inside the BNM's vault for a week.
"We will resume our suit against Rosmah to recover 43 other jewelleries worth USD 14.57 million.
"She told the court in an affidavit that 44 pieces were seized by the government but now we know that that is not true as there is only one piece there.
"So the other 43 pieces must be with her… according to the consignment memorandum, the obligation is on Rosmah to pay if she cannot return the jewelleries," he said.
In May 2018, the police raided and seized cash and jewellery from two condominium units linked to Najib in the upmarket Pavilion Residences.
Besides the jewelleries, other assets seized included RM114 million cash, 284 handbags, 423 watches and 234 sunglasses, which totalled RM900 million to RM1.1 billion.
The company filed the suit on June 26, 2018 to compel Rosmah to return the jewellery it had sent to her for viewing, including a diamond necklace, earrings, rings, bracelets and a tiara, each worth between US$124,000 and US$925,000.
In its suit, Global Royalty claimed that on Feb 10, 2018, it sent 44 pieces of jewellery including diamond necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets and tiaras, each worth US$124,000 (RM519,183) to US$925,000 (RM3.8 million) to the defendant through hand-carry courier via its two agents.
It also claimed that Rosmah, in a letter dated May 22, 2018, also confirmed and acknowledged receiving the jewellery but said all the jewellery were no longer in her possession, and that they had been confiscated and were being kept by the Malaysian authorities.
However, on Oct 23, 2019, Global Royalty had decided to withdraw the claim and instead focus on intervening in the government's forfeiture proceedings against OBYU Holdings Sdn Bhd, the owner of a property from which 12,000 pieces of jewellery were seized by the police.
Meanwhile, Gurupatham said High Court judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin has fixed May 23 to May 27 next year to hear other third-party claims for other items seized by the police during the raid.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Faten Hadni Khairuddin when contacted confirmed the date.