Rosmah Denies Purchasing Pink Diamond

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Former premier Najib Abdul Razak's wife Rosmah Mansor has denied purchasing a pink diamond worth US$23 million
This was relayed to Malaysiakini by her lawyer Iskandar Shah Ibrahim
"My client Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor wants to stress that she had never, at any given time, purchased the pink diamond. That is all," he said in a text message this evening
This morning, the police said there is evidence to show that a pink diamond worth US$23 million was purchased using 1MDB funds
In a statement, Khalil Azlan Chik, who heads Bukit Aman's anti-money laundering investigation team, also revealed the existence of a money trail to show that the item was purchased from a jeweller based in New York
Khalil mentioned that the statement was issued following Rosmah's denial of purchasing the pink diamond
However, the statement did not indicate if this referred to a pink diamond ring or pink diamond pendant
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) had alleged that the pendant was purchased by fugitive financier Jho Low for Rosmah, whom it referred to as the wife of Malaysian Official 1 (MO1)
On Monday, Deputy Finance Minister Amiruddin Hamzah told the Dewan Rakyat that the sales agent who brought in a pink diamond and other jewellery into Malaysia for the wife of a VVIP had declared the valuables with the Royal Malaysian Customs Department
Amiruddin was also reported of saying that the agent declared the valuables with the department when he left the country with them
Although the deputy minister did not specify the item, it is believed that he was referring to the ring
Following this statement by Amiruddin, Rosmah expressed regret that Malaysians fell for the slander surrounding the matter
In an interview with Al-Jazeera last year, Najib said that the 22-carat pink diamond pendant was purchased by a Saudi prince for Rosmah, but she never received it
The DOJ claimed the item was purchased using US$620 million which Najib had returned to his "Saudi donor," which was actually a company controlled by Low's proxy Eric Tan Kim Loong
Malaysiakini has sent text messages to Khalil to clarify which item his statement referred to. - Mkini

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