KUALA LUMPUR: Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor has failed at the High Court in her bid to bring the police and the government as third parties into a US$14.57mil lawsuit against her over missing jewellery pieces.
Justice Ong Chee Kwan, in his decision, said that the police and the government were not responsible to compensate Rosmah.
Rosmah, however, was at liberty to initiate a separate civil lawsuit for any alleged losses suffered from the actions by the authorities relating to the jewellery.
Rosmah’s lawyer Reza Rahim told the press that the court did not allow their application to insert the police and the government as third parties in the lawsuit as they were not joint tortfeasors and owe no duty of indemnity to Rosmah.
He also said they would be appealing the decision.
A defendant can apply to insert a third party who is not part of the main suit, in order to claim contribution, indemnity or any remedy, which is claimed by the plaintiff.
During the in-chamber proceedings here yesterday, lawyer Venothani Rajagopal appeared for the plaintiff Global Royalty Trading SAL while Senior Federal Counsel Syafiq Affandy appeared for the police and the government.
The lawsuit will be heard in a full trial from June 2 next year.
On March 29, 2023, Global Royalty filed the suit against Rosmah and claimed that she had lied by saying that 44 pieces of jewellery, including diamond necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets and tiaras, sent to her by the company’s agent were seized by the Malaysian authorities for offences under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
According to the Beirut-based company, this was because only one of the 44 pieces of jewellery was kept by the police and the remaining 43 pieces were not in the custody of the authorities.
Global Royalty also claimed that Rosmah had shifted the burden to the Malaysian government when in fact, the jewellery had gone missing.
In her defence, Rosmah asserted that if the 43 pieces of jewellery were lost, the police or the Malaysian government should be made responsible for the losses incurred.
She claimed that the jewellery was in the possession of the authorities at all material time.
Among others, Rosmah is asking for the police and the government to compensate and/or contribute to the reliefs sought by the jeweller.
Rosmah said companies like Global Royalty sought publicity for their products and wanted her to be their customer.
She added that items would be sent to her to attract buyers and she was not obligated to purchase them.
In reply, the firm had said that it was a “well-established and renowned jeweller” operating internationally and did not need additional publicity from Rosmah.
The company first sued Rosmah on June 26, 2018, demanding that she return the 44 pieces of jewellery that had been sent to her for selection or pay the full price of all the jewellery, amounting to US$14.79mil.
That lawsuit, however, was withdrawn in 2019.
