KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 11): Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor on Thursday (Aug 10) filed an application in the High Court for Lebanese firm Global Royalty Trading SAL, which is suing her for 43 jewellery items, to deposit US$1 million in Malaysian ringgit security costs with the court.
Rosmah, 71, in her application said since Global Royalty is a foreign firm, it is outside Malaysian courts' jurisdiction, and Malaysia does not have a reciprocal enforcement judgement in Lebanon.
“If I am successful in setting aside the suit, I would have trouble in seeking costs from the company suing me, as it is a foreign firm,” she said.
Following this, Rosmah sought the court to decide on this issue first and, if granted, for Global Royalty to pay the security costs of US1 million or its equivalent in Malaysian ringgit within 14 days of the court order.
The matter came up for case management before High Court deputy registrar Rini Triany Muhamad Ali, who fixed Sept 11 for case management of the matter.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese firm on Thursday filed an application for the court to enter a summary judgement against Rosmah. This follows the firm claiming in its application that Rosmah had failed to return or pay the amount sought for, and there is no meritorious defence in her defence statement, and that it consists of bare denials.
“Hence, there is no necessity for a trial, as the issues raised by her are not triable issues, and do not require assessment of credibility of witnesses to be seen or heard by the learned judge in the court,” the firm said in the application.
A summary judgement can be applied or entered under Order 14 of Rules of Court 2012 by the plaintiff after the defence statement is filed, if it is found that there is no proper defence.
The outcome of Thursday's case management was confirmed by Rosmah’s counsel Rajivan Nambiar, and Datuk David Gurupatham who represented Global Royalty.
Previously, it was reported that the firm had refiled the US$14.57 million or RM67.46 million suit against Rosmah for breach of contract over 43 missing pieces of jewellery despatched to her in February 2018.
A raid was conducted by the Royal Malaysian Police on a Pavilion condo in May 2018, following the downfall of then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is Rosmah's husband, but the firm claimed that the jewellery were not among the 12,000 pieces of jewellery items seized in the raid.
It, however, claimed only one diamond bracelet worth US$220,000 belonging to the firm was recovered and returned to the firm, with 43 other items still missing and unaccounted for.
All the jewellery were returned to Rosmah, after the High Court dismissed the government's bid to forfeit the jewellery in November. The suit was dismissed after the prosecution failed to show that the items were proceeds from unlawful activities related to 1Malaysia Development Bhd. The government did not appeal against the court's decision.
Hence, Global Royalty is seeking a return of the 43 items from Rosmah in good condition from the date of the judgement.
If, for whatever reason, the items are not recoverable or returnable in reasonable or good condition, Rosmah is liable to pay the cost of the jewellery, which amounts to US$14.57 million, along with interest and other reliefs granted by the court.
The Lebanese firm originally filed the suit on June 26, 2018 in the High Court, but withdrew it in October 2019 following the government’s forfeiture.
In the 2019 suit, Rosmah also sought security costs from the firm.