Rosmah Mansor and her husband, former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, claimed that they had never demanded, requested or intended to buy a US$23 million (RM97 million) pink diamond necklace.
The couple maintained that they only knew that a United Arab Emirates (UAE) prince, Sheikh Mansour Zayed, wanted to gift a large piece of jewellery to Rosmah.
In a media statement issued by her three lawyers this afternoon, Rosmah and Najib were responding to the recent revelation at the New York trial of former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng.
During the 1MDB-linked proceedings two days ago, prestigious New York jeweller Lorraine Schwartz told the US court that she secured a US$23 million deal to sell Rosmah a 22-carat diamond necklace.
An invoice for the US$23 million jewellery was shown to the jury, but not the actual piece of jewellery or even a photograph of it.
The evidence provided by Schwartz contradicted Najib's claim in 2018 that the diamond necklace was a gift from Sheikh Mansour.
Today’s press release was made by Rosmah’s lawyers Geethan Ram Vincent, Rajivan Nambiar and Reza Rahim.
“At all material times, our client and her husband only knew that a UAE prince, namely Sheikh Mansour Zayed, had wanted to give as a gift a pink diamond necklace to our client.
“Our client and/or her husband did not at any time demand, request and/or intend to purchase the pink diamond necklace.
“Similarly, the value of the said necklace was never made known to our client and/or her husband,” the three counsels claimed.
Rosmah never received necklace
They said it was pertinent to note that Rosmah never received the pink diamond necklace which was evident in that it was never found to be in her possession despite being subjected to several raids by the authorities.
“Our client also has no knowledge of the invoice produced and shown to the jury in the Roger Ng trial.
“In any event, our client takes the position that the production of the invoice per se does not amount to any form of conclusive evidence implicating our client in the purchase of the pink diamond necklace.
“Lastly, our client states that the sensationalising of this issue is another scurrilous attempt to defame our client and her husband politically and to quote Margaret Thatcher when she said ‘If they attack you personally, it means they have not a single political argument left’,” the lawyers contended.
The three lawyers added that Rosmah reserved her rights in the interim.
Before the Malaysian courts, she faces two ongoing criminal proceedings.
One is a corruption trial linked to the RM1.25 billion solar hybrid energy project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak, and secondly, the RM7 million money laundering and tax evasion case.
Her husband Najib has been convicted and sentenced by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur in the RM42 million corruption case involving SRC International, a former subsidiary of sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
Najib, who is also a former finance minister, is appealing this guilty verdict before the Federal Court.
Najib also has several other ongoing criminal cases before the High Court, such as the RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption trial, the 1MDB audit report trial and the RM6.6 billion criminal breach of trust (CBT) case involving the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC). - Mkini
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