Malaysia 1MDB scandal: lawyers for ex-PM Najib’s wife deny she got US$23 million pink diamond necklace
- Rosmah Mansor’s lawyers said that she and her husband ‘did not at any time request or intend to purchase the jewellery’
- The response came after a US jury in the bribery trial was shown an invoice for the necklace as proof of the treasures bought with money allegedly looted from the fund
“Our client and her husband only knew that a United Arab Emirates prince, Sheikh Mansour Zayed, had wanted to give as gift a pink diamond necklace” to Rosmah, lawyers Geethan Ram Vincent, Rajivan Nambiar and Reza Rahim said in a statement on Friday.
“Our client and 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.”
Ex-Goldman banker bought diamonds worth US$300,000 with 1MDB money
During proceedings on Wednesday in a Brooklyn federal court, an invoice for the necklace was shown to the jury, but not the actual piece of jewellery or even a photograph, as proof of the treasures bought with money allegedly siphoned from the multibillion dollar scam.
The necklace was made by prestigious New York jeweller Lorraine Schwartz for Rosmah, prosecutors told the court as they showed jurors how billions of dollars diverted from three 1MDB bond transactions were used to buy luxury items.
“Our client also has no knowledge of the invoice produced and shown to the jury in the Roger Ng trial,” the lawyers said.
Bigamy, bribes and boozy parties – juicy details emerge from 1MDB’s US 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.”
