KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 31): Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor want to examine 40 watches said to be worth RM6.1 million and 263 handbags worth RM3.9 million seized by the police in May 2018, for them to prepare their defence against its forfeiture.

However, the prosecution led by the Attorney General Chambers Commercial and Cyber Crimes Unit head DPP Fatnin Yusof is objecting to the discovery application made by them, on grounds of security and that there is no legal precedence in forfeiture and money laundering cases to allow this.

“This application, if allowed, would open the flood gates to other forfeiture cases,” she told the High Court.

Najib's lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the court that his client Najib wants to inspect those items, as they had been removed from their boxes. Najib claims some of the items seized include personal gifts to him and his wife from world leaders, especially from Saudi Arabia's late King Abdullah, and from Qatar to him and his family.

“When the items were seized from the three addresses, they were removed from boxes and this results in my client having difficulty in identifying them. Some of these items [were] identified by the prosecution through photograph and a search list merely describes the items, and this does not assist my client on whether these exhibits belong to them.

“For example, for bag the prosecution described it as some brand but there are others of the same brand, and they merely describe the colour as blue but what type of blue, we do not know,” the senior lawyer said.

This led High Court Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan to quip that to a man, there is one blue but maybe to a woman, there are different shades of blue, to which Shafee agreed.

Shafee further said these items were also removed from boxes where they were previously placed and this may result in their value to depreciate, if they are to be sold without the boxes.

“These boxes as with watches and handbags, have particular labelling which facilitates identification, but they have all been removed.

“In the interests of justice and fair trial, we apply for the discovery application [to] be allowed. The inspection of these items can be done either in Bank Negara or Bukit Aman, under close security presence,” the counsel said.

He said this discovery application is also to prepare his client's defence over the forfeiture, adding there were also foreign currency and Malaysian ringgit of various denominations seized along with the watches and handbags.

Meanwhile, Rosmah's lawyer Iskandar Shah Ibrahim agreed with what Shafee had said and pointed out that some of the items seized by the authorities included Nooryana Najwa Najib's wedding gifts, which were also removed from their boxes.

“As seen from the picture of boxes in the affidavit in support of the application, these boxes indicated they were wedding gifts but the contents have been removed. So, as Shafee said, there is a need for our client and her children [to] be allowed to inspect those items first,” he added.

It was previously reported that the police had last year filed a RM31 million forfeiture claim against Najib, Rosmah, their children Nooryana, and Norashman Najib and Najib's stepson Riza Shahriz Aziz.

They were named in the civil forfeiture suit where the government is seeking to recover 263 pieces of branded handbags, 40 pieces of branded watches, 27 pairs of branded shoes, cash in various denominations including some RM725,000, 26 Nissan Urvan vehicles and a Nissan X-Trail.

It was previously reported that photographs of seized items would be shown to Najib and Rosmah. Also that the police had removed valuables from premises in Putrajaya and at the Pavillion condominium, following an operation mounted by the police in May 2018 after the 14th general election.

This forfeiture is different from another claim of more than RM600 million made against OBYU Holdings Sdn Bhd.

Fatnin, who appeared with Harris Ong Mohd Jeffrey Ong, said the items were kept in a high security vault and that it would be a security risk to allow them to view these safely-kept items.

“Furthermore, there has never been an application for discovery in forfeiture cases, as this is done for the first time. If this application is allowed, it would open floodgates to other similar forfeiture cases,” Fatnin said.

"The investigating officer Superintendent Foo Wei Min had affirmed in an affidavit in reply, that the inspection is not necessary as we have provided photographs. We are even willing to take videos of the items, should the need arise to facilitate them to identify," she added.

This led to Justice Zaini enquiring as to the security risks, should the court allow the application, as he had presided over drug cases involving 200 kilograms of the same and this does not prevent the police from bringing the evidence to court.

Fatnin replied that the items are kept in a secret vault under Bank Negara Malaysia's watch, and whether removing them from the security vault and into open air would result in them being exposed, as this may affect the value of the items.

“Most of the items are worth a lot and needed delicate handling. We are concerned that the physical examination done by the applicants (Najib and Rosmah) would result in it being damaged and hence reduce its value,” she said in reading Foo's affidavit.

Foo further denied the notion that barring them from physically examining the items, would prejudice their rights.

Justice Zaini said he would deliver his decision on Monday (Feb 3) and whatever decision delivered, would be based on common sense and done in accordance with the law.