Rosmah seeks to recuse judge in 1MDB’s US$346mil luxury goods lawsuit

KUALA LUMPUR: Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor is seeking to recuse a High Court judge from hearing a US$346mil lawsuit filed against her by 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) due to an alleged conflict of interest.

The application was filed through Messrs Reza Rahim & Rajivan on Wednesday (June 26).

In the application, Rosmah sought Justice Adlin Abdul Majid, who is presiding over the matter, to recuse herself as the judge had practised law at law firm Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill (LHAG).

Justice Adlin was a partner at the firm between March 2011 and March 2021 before she was appointed as a Judicial Commissioner on April 1 2021.

Rosmah said she believed that LHAG was appointed to represent 1MDB as early as 2018 to recover the company’s assets, based on media reports between Aug 30, 2018 and June 4, 2021.

“I have been informed by my lawyer and verily state that there is a real danger of bias,” she said in a supporting affidavit she affirmed.

She said it was only reasonable for Justice Adlin to recuse herself from hearing the matter and for the case to be transferred to another court before another judge.

The wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak cited Rule 6 of the Judges’ Code of Ethics 2009 that ‘a judge shall act at all times in a manner that promotes integrity and impartiality of the judiciary’.

She said it was her absolute right to a fair trial and that right would be prejudiced if Justice Adlin continued to hear the lawsuit.

Rosmah also contended that her application was not to dispute the integrity of the judge nor the entire judiciary and sought for a court order as per her application.

On May 9, 1MDB, SRC International Sdn Bhd and nine subsidiaries filed the civil lawsuit against Rosmah and another individual seeking US$346mil belonging to the company.

The plaintiffs claimed that Rosmah had used the funds from the companies to purchase luxury items such as jewellery, watches and handbags.

Apart from 1MDB and SRC, other plaintiffs are 1MDB Energy Holdings Ltd, 1MDB Energy Ltd, 1MDB Energy (Langat) Ltd and Global Diversified Investment Company Ltd (formerly 1MDB Global Investments Ltd).

Other plaintiffs are Affinity Equity International Partners Ltd, Alsen Chance Holdings Ltd, Blackrock Commodities (Global) Ltd, Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners Ltd and Brightstone Jewellery Ltd.

They named Rosmah as the first defendant and Shabnam Naraindas Daswani (also known as Natasha Mirpuri) as the second defendant.

They claim that Shabnamm, who is based in Singapore, had purchased or procured the luxury items on behalf of Rosmah.

The plaintiffs claim that funds from 1MDB and its subsidiaries were channelled to various offshore entities – including Affinity Equity, Alsen Chance, Blackrock Commodities, Blackstone Asia and Brightstone Jewellery – before being paid out to 48 different vendors based in 14 jurisdictions for the luxury goods.

“A total of 320 such payments totalling US$346,010,489 were made,” the plaintiffs stated.

They further claim the goods sought were “traceable substitute” of 1MDB and its subsidiaries’ trust property, thus the plaintiffs have an equitable proprietary interest in the luxury goods.

They are seeking a court declaration that they have an equitable proprietary interest in the good and traceable proceeds in the hands of Rosmah as well as an order for Rosmah to pay the first until the sixth plaintiffs a sum of US$346mil.