KUALA LUMPUR (April 14): Cash and luxury items seized from Pavillion Residences Kuala Lumpur related to the misappropriation of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) funds were so voluminous in number that they would spill over to the floor once the numerous luggage were opened, the High Court heard on Tuesday.

Former top cop Datuk Seri Amar Singh Ishar Singh, who was the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director during the 2018 raid, said that there were a total of 71 bags and one plastic box, as well as 284 boxes containing handbags, found in one of the premises raided.

"The bags containing cash were hurriedly packed and the currencies were strewn in the bag. They were not tidily bundled and sorted.

"The bags containing jewelleries were packed full of jewelleries placed in plastic packets. These, too, were strewn and packed to the brim in the bags," he said in his witness statement.

The 67-year-old is testifying in international jeweller Global Royalty Trading SAL's US$14.57 million (RM68.3 million) lawsuit against Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor over 43 pieces of jewellery which are allegedly missing following the 2018 raid.

Rosmah, the sole defendant, has roped in the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the government as third parties to the suit. She contends that if the jewellery were missing, the authorities should be made responsible for the losses as the items were in their possession at all material times.

Should the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak lose the suit, the IGP and the police will now have to foot the bill to compensate and/or contribute to the reliefs sought by the jeweller.

On Tuesday, Amar was asked by Rosmah's counsels Datuk Seri Rajan Navaratnam and Rajivan Nambiar regarding the movement of the seized items and its transportation.

When asked why the items were not individually tabulated, the retired cop said that it was easy to make an "armchair decision" but the reality was that the volume of items — coupled with the room which was not air-conditioned and the lack of weighing machines or experts to authenticate the items — made it difficult to count the items on the spot.

He added that the team had initially wanted to tabulate and list all items on the premises but, due to the sheer volume, had decided to send them to a lockup at Bukit Aman for safe-keeping.

He said that the bags were wrapped with plastics similar to the ones used in airports. The items were then loaded into five "Black Marias", escorted by five patrol cars and outriders, with the raid team following behind.

Amar also said that the items were kept in the police lockup, which had two entrances and two sets of keys. They were later tabulated and valued at Menara KPJ and later transferred to Bank Negara's vault.

Amar also added that the luggage seized were zipped, but not locked.

In her testimony to the court on Monday, Rosmah said that she had received the jewellery from the company in February 2018 to publicise the pieces.

She added that she had no time to wear them, but the bag containing the jewellery was kept safe, under lock and key at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Putrajaya, with the intention of returning the jewellery.

Rosmah testified that following the loss of the Najib-led Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition in early May 2018, her family had moved from Seri Perdana in Putrajaya to their personal residence in Jalan Langgak Duta, Kuala Lumpur.

However, she then added that the luxury items were moved to the Pavilion Residences in Kuala Lumpur. 

On Tuesday, Amar testified the that items were moved from Rosmah’s private residence to Pavilion using a mix of personal and government vehicles.

He said that the police had conducted searches on several units at Pavilion owned by Najib's children, but had found nothing.

Following surveillance of the CCTV, they discovered that the items were moved to B45-02, an unoccupied unit which was registered under Tan Sri Bustari Yusuf and one of his companies.

"Investigations reveal that the bags and boxes were moved into [B45-02] from May 11 until the early hours of May 12, 2018.

"The video recordings were processed and still pictures of the persons responsible for the movement obtained.

“All in, 11 police personnel, eight army personnel, and four house helpers were responsible for the movement of the boxes and bags into [the unit] using the basement [lift]. The statements of these persons were all recorded," he said.

A total of five witnesses — four police personnel and former Pavilion Residences building manager Ng See Loon — testified on Tuesday on behalf of the third party.

Senior federal counsel (SFC) Liew Horng Bin and Siti Aishah Ramlan appeared for the third parties, while Global Royalty Trading is represented by Datuk David Gurupatham and Venothani Rajagopal.

The trial before judge Quay Chew Soon continues on Wednesday.

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