KUALA LUMPUR: 1MDB and its subsidiaries have filed a civil lawsuit against Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor seeking US$346 million purportedly belonging to the company.
The sovereign wealth fund claimed that the wife of incarcerated former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had used the funds to purchase luxury items such as jewellery, watches and handbags.
The plaintiffs named Rosmah and Shabnam Naraindas Daswani also known as Natasha Mirpuri as the first and second respondents, respectively.
According to the court document, the plaintiffs claimed Rosmah bought the luxury items not with her own monies but with funds misappropriated from the 1MDB.
The plaintiffs alleged that Shabnam acquired the luxury items on behalf of Rosmah.
"The funds were channeled through various offshore entities before being paid out to 48 different vendors.
"A total of 320 such payments totalling US$346,010,489 were made. The luxury goods represent the traceable substitute of the plaintiff's funds," said the document.
The plaintiffs are seeking a court order to compel Rosmah to pay US$346,010,489 or such other sum as to be assessed by the court.
They are also seeking damages or fair compensation to be determined by the court.
Meanwhile, law firm Lim Chee Wee Partnership who appeared for the plaintiffs has requested the case to be heard before High Court judge Datuk Atan Mustaffa Yusoff Ahmad.
Atan Mustaffa is the same judge who presided over 1MDB's US$8 billion lawsuit against Najib and several others, aimed at recovering assets related to the global-scale financial scandal.
On May 10, 2022, 1MDB filed a combined total of 22 civil suits against various parties, including Najib to recover RM96.6 billion in assets.
The Finance Ministry in a statement said six of the 22 writs were filed by 1MDB, while the remaining 16 were by its former subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd.
The civil suits were filed as an effort by both entities to recover their assets with a combined total in excess of RM96.6 billion including approximately RM300 million against various local parties.
The writs filed by 1MDB are against a total of nine entities - including two foreign financial institutions, and 25 individuals.