KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — The infamous 22-carat pink diamond pendant linked to Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor was a gift from a prince of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), her husband Datuk Seri Najib Razak has explained today.
The former prime minister said the still-missing US$27 million (RM112.7 million) diamond was given by Prince Sheikh Mansour, the brother of Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, and not fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low.
“We know that Jho low was a close associate of Sheikh Mansour,” he told Al Jazeera’s 101 East show.
However, Najib insisted that Rosmah never received said gift.
“It’s a matter of dispute what happened to the pink diamond. So let’s not jump to conclusions,” he added.
A transcript of the interview was made available to Malay Mail. In the hour-long grilling, Najib lost his cool a couple of times.
The show will be aired on the news channel tomorrow at 11.30am Malaysian time.
The jewellery was allegedly gifted to Rosmah in March 2014.
It was part of the US$30 million jewellery purportedly bought with funds misappropriated from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), according to a United States Department of Justice civil suit.
Al Jazeera reporter Mary Ann Jolley also pressed Najib on the fact that Rosmah and Low had met, and that jeweller Lorraine Schwartz who made the necklace knew that the diamond was a gift from Low to Rosmah paid by him.
“We didn’t know. As far as we were concerned, it was a gift from Sheikh Mansour who would know where it came from and who paid for it.
“We wouldn’t know! We did not know the value of the present,” Najib said.
