Rosmah's appeal does not prevent enforcement of RM67.5mil judgment by jeweller, says lawyer

KUALA LUMPUR: The filing of an appeal does not prevent Lebanese jewellery firm Global Royalty Trading SAL from enforcing a RM67.5 million judgment against Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, says its lawyer Datuk David Gurupatham.

David said the Court of Appeal had expressly allowed the firm to enforce the High Court judgment after Rosmah failed to meet the conditions for a stay of execution.

He said Rosmah had failed to deposit the judgment sum into a stakeholder account within the stipulated 30 days.

"The mere fact that an appeal has been filed does not act as a stay of proceedings.

"The High Court judgment in law is to be respected. Our client is a lawful judgment creditor under Malaysian law," he said when contacted.

David was responding to a statement issued by Rosmah's lawyers yesterday, describing any attempt to enforce the RM67.5 million judgment as premature because her appeal against the High Court's decision has yet to be heard.

He said the Court of Appeal had recently dismissed Rosmah's application for an unconditional stay of execution and explicitly stated that Global Royalty Trading SAL could enforce the judgment.

David also warned that any attempt to obstruct the lawful execution of the judgment could amount to contempt of court.

"Any attempt to prevent the lawful execution of the High Court order or statement issued to that effect could be considered contemptuous," he said.

Yesterday, Rosmah's lawyers, Messrs Reza Rahim & Rajivan, said their client would vigorously resist any attempt by the jewellery firm to enforce the judgment.

They maintained that the firm's claim against Rosmah was unsubstantiated and had no basis in fact or law.

The lawyers also argued that enforcement would be premature as Rosmah's appeal was scheduled to be heard by the Court of Appeal on March 25 next year.

On Sept 23, the Court of Appeal dismissed Rosmah's application for an unconditional stay of execution but granted her a conditional stay requiring her to deposit RM67,461,027.37 into a stakeholder account within one month.

However, Rosmah failed to deposit the amount within the stipulated period, prompting the jewellery firm to proceed with enforcement of the judgment against her.