Malaysia's Najib Razak, Rosmah Mansor to get back luxury items worth US$17.4 million as court rules 'no link' to 1MDB
Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor are a step closer to getting back US$17.4 million worth of seized luxury items, after the High Court ruled the assets were not linked to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) corruption scandal and could not be forfeited to the state.
Prosecutors had alleged the items - including jewellery, high-end watches and Birkin bags - were bought using money from the scandal-tainted state fund headed by Najib, saying they embodied an era of decadence and plunder attached to him and his wife.
On Monday, High Court judge Muhammad Jamil Hussin struck down the prosecution's application to forfeit the 2,000 pieces of luxury items worth around 80 million ringgit (US$17.4 million), ruling there was no proof they were obtained using 1MDB funds.
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"[The prosecution's] affidavit failed to prove that the watches seized are proceeds from criminal breach of trust activity or stolen property," the judge ruled.
"The element of predicate offence [illegal activity] is not proven."
Prosecutors said they would appeal against Monday's decision. It was not immediately clear if or when the items will be returned to Najib and Rosmah.
The New Straits Times quoted the judge as saying that he had not yet made a ruling on who would receive the properties, though he rejected prosecutors' application for an "interim stay" on further action.
After Najib, 69, lost the 2018 general election, police raided several residences and seized hundreds of millions of dollars of cash and luxury goods belonging to him and Rosmah. The former prime minister has claimed that most of the items were gifts.
In August, he was sent to jail for 12 years over corruption and money-laundering charges linked to 1MDB, a conviction he says is spurious and politically motivated.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court last year ordered cash worth 114 million ringgit to be returned to Najib, a double blow to Malaysians seeking a level of personal financial culpability from the former leader after the 1MDB scandal punched a hole worth around US$8 billion in the country's finances.
Monday's ruling comes as Malaysia prepares for a general election on Saturday in which Najib's former electoral vehicle - Barisan Nasional (BN) - will seek a return to power after a hiatus defined by a short-lived opposition government and political infighting.
"Najib is happy because he expected it ... this has got nothing to do with 1MDB," the former leader's lawyer Shafee Abdullah said of the ruling, warning the prosecution that the legal team "are giving them enough rope to hang themselves .... we will take action, it is just a matter of time".
He alleged police had mishandled and potentially replaced some of the items.
"There are possibilities that these items are not the items they took from us. Some of the items they took from my client have been damaged severely," he said.
"They say that these items are very, very expensive and yet you cannot imagine ... even using simple common sense - you don't have to go to school - you don't write [with a marker] on a Birkin handbag."
Rosmah, famed for her penchant for luxury clothes and jewellery, was widely seen as a key member of a shared power relationship with her husband.
But the 70-year-old also faces the prospect of jail for corruption after being sentenced to 10 years in prison and a record US$216 million fine for soliciting and receiving bribes to help a company secure a contract from her husband's administration.
She is out on bail and, like her husband, denies all wrongdoing.
The court ruling was greeted with derision on social media, with many questioning the absurdity of the couple's wealth accrued during Najib's career in the public sector.
"It can't be from their lifelong saving. [The tax board] should be interested on their source of income to enable them to spend so much on luxury items," said Twitter user Eddy Daud.
Another reminded others to think about this case when they vote on Saturday.
The ruling will add spice to an already acrimonious lead-up to this weekend's election, which sees Umno and the BN coalition that it leads seeking to helm a return to power, wielding promises of "stability and progress" that they say will bolster the economy and end the political instability precipitated by Najib's entanglement in 1MDB.
"We realise the mistakes we made before and not only do we hope to fix those mistakes, but we are determined to do better," Umno President and BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said last week.
But with nearly six million new voters eligible to cast their ballots this weekend, the opposition is hopeful of ending Umno's bid to return to power.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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