KUALA LUMPUR (April 9): The High Court on Wednesday recorded a consent judgement between 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), SRC International Sdn Bhd, along with several other companies, and Shabnam Naraindas Daswani, where the Singaporean national was sued along with Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.
Judge Wan Muhammad Amin Wan Yahya recorded that 1MDB and the other plaintiffs had withdrawn their legal action against Shabnam, with liberty to file afresh.
As a result, Wan Muhammad Amin recorded the consent judgement in online proceedings.
Earlier, Shabnam had retained Messrs Sivananthan as her solicitor on Wednesday, after the firm had earlier applied to discharge itself last month.
When contacted separately by The Edge, a source familiar with the matter and defence lawyer Datuk N Sivananthan both confirmed the withdrawal of the action against Shabnam and the consent judgement.
“There is no order made as to costs (of the withdrawal),” added Sivananthan when contacted by The Edge.
As at the time of publication, the terms of the settlement have not been made public.
1MDB and the other plaintiffs were represented by Datuk Lim Chee Wee and Nathalie Ker.
1MDB, along with SRC and nine other companies, had in June last year filed the US$346.01 million suit against Rosmah and Shabnam, who is also known as Natasha Mirpuri. The suit was filed by Messrs Lim Chee Wee Partnership.
The companies in their statement of claim allege that the funds used to purchase the luxury goods were monies from 1MDB and SRC that were fraudulently transferred out of Malaysia to entities registered in offshore jurisdictions, with no connection to the companies' investment objectives. Those transactions, they said, served only to act as a conduit for diverting funds to obscure final destinations.
Rosmah, 74, is alleged to have bought the valuables from 48 vendors from 14 countries. She is the wife of imprisoned former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The plaintiffs are seeking several remedies, namely:
- A recovery of the luxury goods, their traceable proceeds, and a declaration that Rosmah received them for no consideration, alleging that it is a breach of her fiduciary duties or trust
- An alternative amount of US$346.01 million (approximately RM1.632 billion) to compensate the plaintiffs for the cost of the luxury goods she received as a result of the breach, and
- A court order to freeze Rosmah’s assets to the sum of US$346.01 million.
Shabnam was named as defendant alongside Rosmah for having purchased or procured the luxury goods for her.
The lawsuit follows a failed forfeiture application by authorities after a highly publicised raid on a condominium owned by OBYU Holdings Sdn Bhd at Pavilion Residences, Kuala Lumpur, in May 2018. The police seized over 12,000 pieces of jewellery, several hundred handbags, and watches during the raid.
After obtaining the forfeiture application cause papers, the plaintiffs and liquidators began their investigation and initiated discovery applications against vendors in Hong Kong, the US, and the UK.
In June last year, following the filing of the suit, Rosmah had reportedly given her undertaking not to dispose of the 12,000 luxury items at issue in this suit.
Despite this, 1MDB and the other plaintiffs are seeking a Mareva injunction against Rosmah, as it was reported last month that the plaintiffs provided further documentary evidence over purchases of jewellery and other valuables priced from US$100,000 (RM441,709) to US$27.3 million for Rosmah.
The US$27.3 million, as documented by UK-based Kroll Advisory Ltd’s director of investigation Richard Templeman, is for the purchase of a 22.17-carat diamond and a diamond necklace from American jewellery designer Lorraine Schwartz.
This was paid off in two tranches: firstly a sum of US$4.3 million by an associate of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho (Jho Low), Eric Tan Kim Loong, via Alsen Chance Holdings Ltd in December 2012, and the remainder US$23 million was paid by Jho Low on Sept 10, 2013.