David Gurupatham, appearing for the Beirut-based wholesale jeweller, told High Court judge Jamil Hussin the bracelet belonged to Global Royalty owner Samer Halimeh, and hoped Rosmah would relinquish her claim and “save everyone’s time”.
“The IO (investigating officer) even affirmed an affidavit to say that piece of item belonged to us.
“Our expert has inspected the seized jewellery items kept in Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM)’s vaults and he verified that the bracelet belongs to us,” he said, adding that Rosmah previously waived her right not to inspect the seized items.
Gurupatham said this after Rosmah’s lawyer, Azamuddin Abd Aziz, told the court his client wanted to proceed with a claim on the bracelet, which she previously said was among the items delivered to her for viewing as she was the wife of then prime minister Najib Razak.
However, after hearing Gurupatham’s argument, Azamuddin said he needed to seek further instructions from Rosmah on whether to proceed on staking the claim.
The US$220,000 white gold diamond bracelet was among the items seized by police at Pavilion Residences in May 2018 allegedly linked to the 1MDB financial scandal.
In 2019, the government filed a forfeiture application to seize various items, including 11,991 items of jewellery, 401 watch straps, 16 watch accessories, 234 pairs of spectacles, 306 handbags as well as cash in various denominations amounting to RM114,164,393.44 over claims they were linked to 1MDB.
Rosmah and Global Royalty are the third parties wanting to claim the seized jewellery in the forfeiture bid.
Besides that, lawyer Shafee Abdullah, appearing for Najib, told the court his client wanted to claim seven watches. Najib is also a third-party claimant.
“We are prepared to proceed for the hearing today,” he said, adding that the court had previously set the hearing dates for today and tomorrow.
However, deputy public prosecutor Faten Hadni Khairuddin told the court they wanted to amend the forfeiture application’s papers, citing “new developments” that warranted the prosecution to make changes.
“We have no intention to delay this case,” she said.
To that, Jamil said the court would give the prosecution two weeks to make the necessary amendments.
The court set June 8 for next mention.