KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 12): The High Court has granted Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor a conditional stay over the order for her to pay RM67.5 million to a Lebanese jeweller for missing jewellery.
Judicial Commissioner (JC) Marianne Antoinette Ghani ruled on Wednesday that Rosmah must deposit RM67.46 million into a stakeholder’s account within a month while she waits for the outcome of her appeal.
Citing case law, she said the main concern was whether Rosmah could get the money back if she wins her appeal, rather than whether she could afford to pay it.
"It is the finding of the court that a conditional stay, requiring the defendant to pay the judgement sum into a stakeholder's account of the parties, best balances the rights of the parties.
"This will ensure that (Global Royalty) as the successful litigant, is assured the fruits of its successful litigation and avoids the prejudice caused by an unconditional stay if the appeal is dismissed, while ensuring that the defendant's rights of appeal shall not be rendered nugatory should her appeal be allowed," she said.
Marianne added that this way, the judgement sum will remain within Malaysia and therefore be easily recoverable.
Rosmah is seeking a stay on an earlier decision by the High Court in June which found her liable for 43 "missing" pieces of jewellery consigned to her by Global Royalty Trading SAL back in 2018.
High Court judge Datuk Quay Chew Soon ordered Rosmah to pay Global Royalty RM67,461,027.37 and also dismissed her third party claim against the inspector general of police (IGP) and the government.
Rosmah claimed that the jewellery, seized in the post 2018 elections' raid, were in the possession of the authorities at all material time. If the jewellery were lost, she said the police or the Malaysian government should be made responsible for the losses.
Only one piece of jewellery from the 44 were recovered and returned to Global Royalty.
She is appealing against Quay's decision and had applied for an interim stay which was heard before Marianne. The JC dismissed the interim stay on July 20, prompting Rosmah to file the current stay application.
Among the grounds she cited for the stay was that the plaintiffs are based in Lebanon, a non-reciprocal jurisdiction where restitution would be difficult. She also argued that the jeweller had not allayed fears that they were financially capable of returning the sum.
Global Royalty contends that financial hardship, forced liquidation, bankruptcy and even foreign elements do not justify an unconditional stay.
They also contend that Rosmah had not produced any evidence to support her argument that restitution "would be difficult, impossible or impracticable".
Global Royalty were represented by Datuk David Gurupatham and Venothani Rajagopal from David Gurupatham & Koay, while Reza Rahim from Messrs Reza Rahim & Rajivan appeared for Rosmah.
In a brief statement issued later, David said that they were pleased with the court's decision on Wednesday as it ensures that Global Royalty’s judgement is fully protected and secured pending the appeal.
"Should Global Royalty ultimately succeed in the appeal, our client will be able to look to the monies already secured in the stakeholder account towards satisfaction of the judgement, subject to the appropriate orders of the court.
"Equally important, if [Rosmah] does not deposit the full judgement sum within the 30-day period, Global Royalty will be entitled to proceed with execution of its judgement," he said.
Reza later told the media that Rosmah had given instructions to file an appeal against Wednesday’s conditional stay.