KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court judge assigned to hear a US$346 million (RM1.63 billion) lawsuit brought by plaintiffs 1MDB, SRC International Sdn Bhd and nine other companies against Rosmah Mansor has recused himself from the case.
Justice Leong Wai Hong made the ruling after Rosmah, the wife of former prime minister Najib Razak, applied for his recusal due to his links to law firm Skrine. Leong was a partner in the firm prior to joining the bench.
Lawyer Rajan Navaratnam, who represented Rosmah, told FMT that a new case management would be fixed after a new judge is assigned to the case.
Lawyer Lim Chee Wee appeared for the plaintiffs.
Skrine is acting for 1MDB in a civil suit brought against Najib and several of its office bearers. The firm has secured a Mareva injunction against Najib in that case, freezing assets up to a value of US$681 million.
Leong was assigned to the case to replace previous trial judge Adlin Abdul Majid, who was transferred to the intellectual property court.
Adlin had on Sept 9 dismissed an earlier application filed by Rosmah to recuse her.
In the suit filed in May this year, the plaintiffs allege that Rosmah purchased jewellery and handbags from 48 vendors in 14 countries using funds originating from them.
The plaintiffs claim that these funds were fraudulently transferred to entities registered in offshore jurisdictions to which they had no connection.
The plaintiffs are seeking to recover the luxury goods and their traceable proceeds.
They also want a declaration that Rosmah received these goods for no consideration which were transferred to her in breach of fiduciary duties or breach of trust.
Alternatively, the plaintiffs seek to recover the sum of US$346.01 million, being the cost of the luxury goods received by Rosmah.
Also named as a defendant in the suit is Singaporean Shabnam Naraindas Daswani @ Natasha Mirpuri, who is alleged to have purchased or procured the luxury goods for Rosmah.
