Former Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Amar Singh Ishar Singh told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today that bags of cash and jewellery were found spilling onto the floor during a police raid on a luxury Pavilion Residences condominium unit eight years ago.
Amar, 67, who retired from the police in December 2018, said police found 71 luggage bags, one plastic box, and 284 other boxes during the operation at 5.30pm on May 17, 2018.
“Initially, we wanted to count each and every exhibit. But the minute we opened a few bags, the number of exhibits in each bag was just overwhelming.
“When we saw bags of cash, it was not properly bundled. It was loosely packed, and the contents spilt onto the floor. We had to quickly push back all the items and zip the bags,” he said.
He added that the raid was carried out following instructions to search premises linked to former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and his family in connection with the 1MDB case.
Amar was testifying on the second day of a US$14.57 million lawsuit filed by Lebanese jeweller Global Royalty Trading SAL against Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, over the alleged loss of more than 40 pieces of jewellery, before judge Quay Chew Soon.
The inspector-general of police and the Malaysian government were third parties in the suit.
Amar, the second witness for the third parties, said bags containing the jewellery were filled to the brim, making it impossible to conduct an immediate inventory.
“We couldn’t count and tabulate these exhibits. There were just too many. Imagine if I tabulated the exhibits, I would be writing one jewellery item, and there would be 12,000 pieces for one chain. There were so many chains.
“We didn’t have a weighing machine with us. Neither were we experts in tabulating the exhibits. We were not able to determine whether they were real gold, fake gold, diamonds, or otherwise,” he said during cross-examination by senior federal counsel Liew Horng Bin.
He said officers opted to secure the bags using plastic wrapping, similar to airport luggage wrapping, to preserve the integrity of the exhibits before transporting them to the Bukit Aman in five fully secured “Black Maria” trucks.
“Each vehicle was escorted by patrol cars. Our entire team followed the convoy to ensure the exhibits arrived at Bukit Aman in their original condition.
“Upon arrival, we followed the same process, escorting items in batches into the lock-up. Only after sealing everything did we allow everyone to leave,” he said.
Meanwhile, Amar, in his witness statement, said the inspection and valuation of the jewellery was conducted from May 30 to June 25, 2018, at the 34th floor of Menara KPJ.
At the end of each counting, valuing and tabulating process, the plastic containers containing the exhibits were escorted under tight security to Bank Negara for safekeeping in its vault.
“I was informed that the Anti-Money Laundering investigating officer, together with a representative from Global Royalty, had positively identified one piece of the jewellery as belonging to them.
“This jewellery mark has been positively identified and returned to them. If this is so, then it was together with a total of 1,041 jewellery pieces found in bags stored in a room at the premises,” he said.
On March 29, 2023, Global Royalty filed a lawsuit against Rosmah, alleging she falsely claimed that 44 pieces of jewellery, including diamond necklaces, bracelets, and tiaras, sent to her by the company’s agent, had been seized by the Malaysian authorities under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
The Beirut-based company claimed that only one of the 44 pieces of jewellery was retained by the police, and the remaining 43 pieces were not in their custody.
Global Royalty further asserted that Rosmah had shifted the responsibility to the Malaysian government when, in fact, the jewellery had gone missing.
- Bernama
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