KUALA Lumpur: Rosmah Mansor has until June 2 to file her defence in a US$14.6 million suit brought by a Lebanese jeweller over her failure to return 43 jewellery items allegedly delivered to her almost five years ago.
Lawyer Venothani Rajagopal, who appeared for Global Royalty Trading SAL, said High Court deputy registrar Rini Triany Ali gave the direction during case management today.
Venothani, who is assisting lawyer David Gurupatham, said the next case management for the suit will be held on June 7.
Pupil-in-chambers Cindy Lee, appeared for Rosmah, the wife of former prime minister Najib Razak.
Global Realty filed the suit on March 29 this year over a consignment which they claimed included diamond necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets and tiaras, each valued at between US$124,000 (RM555,300) and US$925,000 (RM4.14 million).
They claimed the consignment, hand delivered to Rosmah by two agents on Feb 10, 2018, has not been returned.
However, Rosmah claimed the jewellery was no longer in her possession as it was seized by the authorities and placed in their custody.
In 2019, the government filed a forfeiture suit to seize 11,991 items of jewellery, 401 watch straps, 16 watch accessories, 234 pairs of spectacles and 306 handbags, as well as cash in various denominations amounting to more than RM114 million.
The seizure was carried out in connection with an investigation into the 1MDB financial scandal.
The government’s forfeiture application was rejected after the High Court ruled that the prosecution had failed to show the items were purchased using proceeds from unlawful activities related to 1MDB.
The items were ordered to be returned to Rosmah.
Global Royalty said it only managed to recover a diamond bracelet valued at US$220,000 leaving the rest, which became the subject matter of the civil suit, unaccounted for.