KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 — Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor was today ordered by the High Court to pay RM67.4 million into a joint stakeholder account within a month, pending her appeal in a suit filed by Lebanese jeweller Global Royalty Trading SAL to recover the value of 43 jewellery items delivered to her.

Rosmah had previously sought to stay the execution of the High Court’s June 10 decision, with the court having fixed today to deliver its decision on the application.

In granting the order, Judicial Commissioner Marianne Antoinette Ghani said a stay was not automatically granted simply because an appeal was pending, further stating that Rosmah — as the defendant — had to prove special circumstances justified her application for a stay.

She said Rosmah’s contention that the judgment sum was too large for an individual to pay could not, by itself, justify a stay of execution, despite her claim that her jewellery had been seized during a raid by a third party.

“In the circumstances, the Court orders that a conditional stay of execution be granted to the defendant pending her appeal to the Court of Appeal.

“The defendant shall pay the judgment sum into a joint stakeholders account between the solicitors for the parties within one month from this order, failing which the plaintiff will be at liberty to take out execution proceedings as it deems fit in the circumstances pending the determination of the defendant’s appeal to the Court of Appeal,” she said.

Lawyer Reza Rahim appeared for Rosmah while Datuk David Gurupatham appeared for Global Royalty.

The present case centred on 44 pieces of luxury jewellery worth RM67,461,027.37 (US$14.57 million) that Global Royalty said were delivered to Rosmah in 2018 for viewing under a consignment arrangement.

Global Royalty later filed a legal suit in 2023, seeking the return of the items or payment for their value after claiming the items were supplied to Rosmah on consignment but were never returned following their seizure during a 2018 police raid at Pavilion Residences.

Only one item — a diamond and emerald bracelet — was eventually recovered and returned to the Lebanese company following separate forfeiture proceedings.

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