Rosmah Mansor denies jewellery request from Lebanese wholesaler
(Sun Daily) – Wife of ex-Prime Minister Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor denied requesting jewellery worth millions of Ringgit from a well-known wholesale jeweller from Lebanon, the High Court heard.
According to the New Straits Times (NST), Rosmah said Global Royalty Trading SAL (GRT) sent her the jewelry because she was their desired customer and wanted publicity out of it.
Her further reasoning was due to the fact that she was the wife of the Prime Minister at the time and there were business dealings similar to those desired by the plaintiff.
“The purpose of delivering the said packaged goods to Rosmah is for the benefit and advantage of the plaintiff itself, in order to gather, obtain, and attract publicity or credibility among buyers.
“Therefore, these goods were delivered to Rosmah for her to inspect at her own discretion and willingness.
“There is no obligation on the part of the defendant to purchase these goods,“ she said in her court document to answer a US$14.79 million (RM60 million) lawsuit linked to 43 pieces of jewellery.
It was reported that the suit was filed by GRT against Rosmah in an attempt to recover the jewellery seized by the police after a raid was conducted on two condominium units linked to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak some five years ago.
In response to the suit, Rosmah claimed all reasonable and prudent steps to ensure the safety of the jewellery had been undertaken.
Rosmah further claimed that the plaintiff’s representative had met her to inquire about the status of the jewellery on May 22, 2018.
In its suit, Global Royalty claimed that on Feb 10, 2018, it sent 43 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.
The daily reported in a letter dated May 22, 2018, Rosmah acknowledged to have received the jewellery, but said they were all no longer in her hands, further claiming that the authorities had seized the jewellery and was being kept by the authorities.
On Oct 23, 2019, it was learnt that Global Royalty decided to withdraw the claim and instead focused 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.
