A three-member bench chaired by Justice P Ravinthran said the High Court did not err when concluding that R Parameswari, who filed a civil suit against the divorced couple, parted with the gold bars for investment purposes.

Reshmonu, whose name is H Hiresh, and his ex-wife, R Kavita, had contended that the gold ingots, each weighing 1kg, were part of a sales transaction.

Ravinthran, who sat with Justices Wong Kean Kheong and Faizah Jamaludin, noted that Parameswari, in her statement of claim, had stated that the gold bars were close to 100 pure (999), but this was denied by the divorced couple in their defence.

“The purity of the gold is not an issue. For this reason, it is unnecessary to call an expert witness,” he said, adding that an appellate intervention was unwarranted as the trial judge made a correct finding.

The bench also ordered the divorced couple to pay RM15,000 in costs to Parameswari.

In her suit filed in 2020, Parameswari said she became friends with the couple and agreed to an investment scheme pursuant to which she handed over the gold bars, valued at RM9 million, in 2015.

She said she was only paid about RM800,000 as investment profit. The divorced couple refused to return the gold bars, leading her to file a suit for misrepresentation, tort of conversion, and deception.

In 2023, then High Court judge Ahmad Bache ordered the divorced couple to pay Parameswari RM6 million, as the price of gold had gone down during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

He also ordered a further assessment of damages.

Lawyers Rabinder Singh, Chu Chin Lee and Oswin Tok represented Parameswari while Manmohan Singh Kang acted for the divorced couple.