PUTRAJAYA (March 26): The Court of Appeal (COA) has fixed April 6 to hear 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and 10 other companies’ appeal to admit Singaporean Shabnam Naraindas Daswani’s affidavit in support of 1MDB’s application for a Mareva injunction, to be imposed on Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, to freeze her assets following the US$346 million suit filed against her.
The date was fixed by COA deputy registrar Nor Rajiah Mat Zin following case management on Thursday.
The hearing date was confirmed separately to The Edge by Rosmah’s counsel Datuk Seri Rajan Navaratnam of Messrs Rajan Navaratnam and lawyer Sachin Nair of Messrs Lim Chee Wee and Partnership representing 1MDB.
Last Nov 10, the High Court had dismissed 1MDB and the 10 companies’ application to admit Shabnam’s affidavit. Shabnam was normally Rosmah’s shopping partner in her travels to purchase luxury jewellery and handbags.
High Court judge Wan Muhammad Amin Wan Yahya refused to grant leave (permission) for Shabnam’s affidavit to be used in support of 1MDB’s application, as it was filed late. Following the dismissal, the judge ordered 1MDB to pay RM10,000 costs to Rosmah.
Besides 1MDB, the other companies involved in the suit are 1MDB Energy Holdings Ltd, 1MDB Energy Ltd, 1MDB Energy (Langat) Ltd, Global Diversified Investment Company Ltd, SRC International Sdn Bhd, Affinity Equity International Partners Ltd, Alsen Chance Holdings Ltd, Blackrock Commodities (Global) Ltd, Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners Ltd, and Brightstone Jewellery Ltd.
They had filed the US$346 million suit against Rosmah, who is the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
1MDB has been seeking to have the court admit Shabnam’s affidavit in support of its request for a Mareva injunction to freeze Rosmah’s assets.
Shabnam, originally the second defendant in the lawsuit, had filed an affidavit in support of the plaintiffs’ Mareva injunction application on June 20 last year. She had been dropped as the second defendant in April last year, and was said to be wanting to assist the Malaysian authorities.
Shabnam had been cleared by the Singapore authorities of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal.
The Singaporean businesswoman claimed that she became friends with Rosmah in 2003 and had followed her on several overseas trips and helped choose the valuables, including jewellery and handbags.
The companies in their statement of claim filed in June 2024 had alleged that the funds used to purchase the luxury goods were monies from 1MDB, SRC International and others, that had been 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.
Following this, the plaintiffs sought 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.