KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 14 — The government today failed in its bid to forfeit 2,435 pieces of jewellery, seven luxury watches and 29 designer handbags worth RM80 million that were confiscated from a premises owned by Obyu Holdings Sdn Bhd, which were allegedly owned by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.
This follows the decision of High Court Judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin who rejected the prosecution’s application as the plaintiff to forfeit the rights to the items confiscated by the police at Pavilion Residences here on May 17, 2018.
In his judgement, Muhammad Jamil said the plaintiff failed to prove that all the confiscated items were obtained through the misappropriation of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds.
The judge also rejected the prosecution’s request to stay the execution of the decision pending an appeal to be filed and decided by the Court of Appeal.
Najib and Rosmah are third parties in the application. Any third party who claims to have an interest in the confiscated goods can appear in court to present reasons why they should not be forfeited to the government.
In 2019, the prosecution had filed a forfeiture application against Obyu Holdings to forfeit the items and cash amounting to RM114,164,393.44 allegedly belonging to UMNO and Najib. However, the government failed to forfeit the money.
