PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has granted leave to Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor to include the Malaysian Government and police as third parties in the US$14.57mil lawsuit filed against her by Lebanese jeweller Global Royalty Trading SAL over more than 40 missing pieces of jewellery.
A three-judge panel consisting of Justices Datuk P. Ravinthran, Datuk Dr Choo Kah Sing and Datuk Seri Mohd Firuz Jaffril allowed Rosmah's appeal on Thursday (March 27) to overturn the High Court's decision in May last year, which rejected her application.
Delivering the unanimous decision, Justice Choo said Rosmah, the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, had established a prima facie case to be granted leave to issue the third-party notice.
He said the proposed third parties had a statutory duty of care and control of the jewellery under Section 413(5) of the Criminal Procedure Code, thereby establishing the nexus between Rosmah and the proposed third parties.
"In the event the proposed third parties are found to have breached their statutory duty, Rosmah can seek indemnity relief against them," he said.
On March 29, 2023, Global Royalty sued Rosmah, claiming she had lied that 44 pieces of jewellery, including diamond necklaces, bracelets and tiaras sent to her by the company's agent were seized by the Malaysian authorities under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
The Beirut-based company claimed that only one of the 44 pieces of jewellery was retained by police and the remaining 43 pieces were not in their custody.
Global Royalty further asserted that Rosmah had shifted the responsibility to the Malaysian Government when in fact the jewellery had gone missing.
In her application to initiate third-party proceedings against the police and the government, Rosmah reiterated that the pieces of jewellery in contention were not in her possession and had been seized by the authorities.
The High Court set May 29 for case management to fix the hearing dates.
In Thursday's proceeding before the Court of Appeal, lawyer Rajivan Nambiar and Nur Aiman Sharizal represented Rosmah, while senior federal counsels Shamsul Bolhassan and Nur Ezdiani Roleb, as well as federal counsel Syafiq Affandy Hasan, appeared for the government and police.
Lawyer Venothani Rajagopal represented Global Royalty. – Bernama
