1MDB suit against Rosmah going nowhere as court awaits new judge

PETALING JAYA: A multi-million dollar civil suit brought by 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and 10 other entities against Rosmah Mansor appears to have ground to a halt, with no trial dates in sight due to a vacancy on the bench.

The suit, commenced in May 2024, seeks proprietary and monetary relief for luxury goods allegedly purchased by the wife of former prime minister Najib Razak with funds misappropriated from the companies.

The judicial vacancy has also resulted in several critical interlocutory applications, made by both parties, being put on hold.

A case management session is slated for next week, with the court expected to provide updates and directions on the future of the litigation.

At the heart of the suit is the claim that Rosmah received and possessed thousands of luxury items that were funded using assets belonging to 1MDB and its subsidiaries.

Investigations by liquidators revealed a complex money trail involving more than US$346 million.

The plaintiffs claim that these funds were channelled through eight offshore paying entities controlled by several known Najib proxies, including Low Taek Jho (or Jho Low) and Eric Tan.

They also claim that between 2009 and 2014, approximately 320 payments were made to at least 48 different vendors worldwide to facilitate these high-end acquisitions.

The plaintiffs contend that these transactions were “coordinated and sham” efforts to move misappropriated money through various intermediaries before reaching the vendors.

The case will see Shabnam Naraindas Daswani, originally named as a co-defendant, testify for 1MDB against Rosmah after the suit against her was discontinued two months ago.

The items in question are linked to the massive haul seized by the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) during the May 2018 raids at Pavillion Residence. That seizure included 11,991 pieces of jewellery and over 700 handbags.

The public prosecutor had sought to forfeit these items under anti-money laundering laws, but failed, after a judge ruled in 2022 that the prosecution could not show a direct link to any predicate offence committed by Rosmah.

The goods were returned to her in stages throughout 2022.

However, 1MDB and the other plaintiffs now claim that these specific items were purchased with misappropriated funds, forming the basis of this civil recovery effort.

The suit names 1MDB Energy Holdings Limited, 1MDB Energy Limited, 1MDB Energy (Langat) Limited, Global Diversified Investment Company Limited, SRC International Sdn Bhd, Affinity Equity International Partners Limited, Alsen Chance Holdings Limited, Blackrock Commodities (Global) Limited, Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners Limited, and Brightstone Jewellery Limited as co-plaintiffs.