Najib Rosmah And Lebanese Firm Allowed To View 11 991 Seized Gem Pieces

---

 
Police carting away luxury items seized from an apartment at Pavilion Residences in Kuala Lumpur in May 2018. The items are being kept in a vault at Bank Negara Malaysia.KUALA LUMPUR: Najib Razak, his wife Rosmah Mansor and Lebanese jewellery firm Global Royalty Trading SAL owner Samer Halimah will be allowed to inspect 11,991 pieces of jewellery kept in a vault at Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
The jewellery items, kept in more than 90 boxes, were among valuables seized by police at the premises belonging to Obyu Holdings Sdn Bhd at Pavilion Residences here in May 2018.
Lawyer David Gurupatham, who represented Samer, said High Court judge Muhammad Jamil Hussin allowed for the inspection to be carried out between Oct 25 and Nov 5, subject to strict compliance with Covid-19 SOPs.
He said this was the third time that such an order had been made.
“Last year, the judge had given two dates to do the inspection but this could not be done due to the pandemic,” said Gurupatham, who appeared with lawyer Venothani Rajagopal for case management before Jamil.
The next case management is on Nov 8.
The company claims it sold 44 pieces of jewellery worth about RM66 million to Rosmah in 2018 and wants them returned as it alleged she did not make any payment.
“This is because the purchase was only to be finalised after the jewellery had been tried out,” Gurupatham said.
The consignment consists of rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets and a tiara.
Lawyer Eleena Rashid represented Najib, and Iskandar Shah Ibrahim and Azamuddin Aziz appeared for Rosmah.
Najib, Rosmah and Global Royalty are the third parties staking a claim to the jewellery in the forfeiture application against Obyu Holdings, owned by businessman Bustari Yusof.
In 2019, the prosecution filed a forfeiture application against Obyu Holdings to seize various items, including the 11,991 pieces of jewellery, 401 watch straps, 16 watch accessories, 234 pairs of spectacles and 306 handbags as well as cash in various denominations amounting to RM114,164,393.44.
The money and jewellery were confiscated by the authorities for allegedly being linked to the 1MDB fund scandal.
On July 25 last year, Najib and Rosmah had inspected a total of 306 handbags, 401 watches, 16 watch accessories and 234 pairs of glasses seized from the same premises. - FMT

---