KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has ordered Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor to pay RM67.5mil to Lebanon-based jeweller Global Royalty Trading SAL within one month over 43 pieces of jewellery that were not returned to them.
Rosmah claimed that the missing 43 pieces were seized by the authorities during a raid on May 17, 2018 at a unit in the luxury residential Pavilion where she was staying.
Justice Quay Chew Soon said the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak failed to prove the jewellery pieces were seized by the police, thus a prima facie negligence on her part.
Her lawyer Rajivan Nambiar told reporters that they would be filing for an appeal and a stay on the decision.
Yesterday, the court said the jewellery pieces were delivered to Rosmah, in February 2018, for viewing under a consignment arrangement but she did not buy the jewellery in the end.
The judge said the law imposes a burden upon Rosmah, who is the wife to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to properly account for the fate of the jewellery while under her custody.
“The defendant cannot merely say that there was a raid by the police, the items may have been seized, bodyguards handled the bags or that the police took possession of certain items, and thereby hope to discharge the burden imposed upon her as a bailee.
The judge said Rosmah must prove what had precisely happened to the jewellery and that the 43 pieces were in fact seized by the authorities, that they remained intact and accounted for throughout the alleged chain of custody.
“The defendant has failed to do so. Her attempt to shift focus onto speculative explanations concerning the raid and seizure by the police is untenable.
“The fact remains that the defendant failed to return the remaining 43 pieces and cannot satisfactorily account for their fate. In law, that constitutes prima facie negligence.
“Unless adequately rebutted, liability necessarily follows. The defendant has failed to rebut that presumption,” Justice Quay said.
Rosmah in her defence stated that the jewellery was moved from the official residence of the Prime Minister at Seri Perdana to the Pavilion unit and was subsequently seized by the police during the raid on May 17, 2018.
She claimed the jewellery was ‘safely kept in a bag’ and ‘stored under lock’ until the raid, and that she remained ready and willing to return them.
The judge however found that Rosmah’s defence collapsed after she admitted that she did not personally pack nor move the jewellery and that she did not supervise the transportation.
For Rosmah’s claim for an indemnity from third parties via third-party proceedings, the court also rejected this claim.
Rosmah had brought in the Inspector-General of Police and the government as third parties in the proceedings, seeking indemnity from third parties in respect of any sums she may be held liable to pay to the plaintiff.
The court then allowed the plaintiff’s claim against Rosmah and ordered her to pay RM67,461,027.37 to the plaintiff within one month, and RM75,000 in costs each to the plaintiff and the third parties.
Global Royalty filed the suit on May 29, 2023, claiming that Rosmah had falsely claimed the jewellery, including diamond necklaces, bracelets and tiaras, sent to her by the company’s agent, were seized by Malaysian authorities.
