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1MALAYSIA Development Bhd (1MDB) and 10 other companies have secured a major procedural victory in their bid to recover luxury assets worth about US$346 million (RM1.63 billion) allegedly bought with misappropriated funds, after the Court of Appeal allowed them to introduce additional evidence from Rosmah Mansor’s former personal shopper.
The unanimous ruling allows the companies to rely on a 319-page affidavit by Singaporean national Shabnam Naraindas Daswani, which contains invoices, vendor correspondence, photographs and communications detailing alleged luxury purchases linked to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, and Eric Tan.
A three-member panel chaired by Justice Datuk Dr Alwi Abdul Wahab, with Justices Datuk Ismail Brahim and Datuk Leonard David Shim, today overturned a High Court decision barring the affidavit from being used in support of the companies’ application for a Mareva injunction against Rosmah.
Delivering the judgment, Shim said the High Court had erred in requiring the companies to establish exceptional circumstances before allowing the additional affidavit to be filed.
He said the Rules of Court did not impose such a requirement for an extension of time.
“The companies’ application was filed on June 20 last year, before written submissions in the injunction proceedings were completed on July 18 of the same year.
“The delay of about two and a half months in preparing the affidavit was also satisfactorily explained,” he said.
Shabnam, who was initially named as the second defendant in the suit, only agreed to provide her evidence after the companies withdrew their claims against her through a consent order dated April 9 last year.
The affidavit, contained in nine volumes, details payments for luxury goods allegedly channelled through offshore entities using funds misappropriated from 1MDB.
Shim said the evidence was relevant to the companies’ claims for Mareva and proprietary injunctions and could also be used to challenge Rosmah’s defence that the luxury items were gifts from third parties.
He said Rosmah would not suffer substantial prejudice as she would be given sufficient time to examine and respond to the affidavit.
The companies, however, would face greater injustice if prevented from presenting evidence obtained only after the consent order with Shabnam was concluded, he added.
The court also ordered RM30,000 in costs to be paid to the companies, subject to allocatur fees.
A Mareva injunction is an interim order restraining a defendant from disposing of assets pending the determination of a case.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court has fixed Jan 7 next year to hear the companies’ application for the injunction.
In the suit, 1MDB and the 10 other companies are seeking the return of luxury goods worth about US$346 million (RM1.63 billion), allegedly purchased using misappropriated 1MDB funds.
They claim the money was channelled through eight offshore entities in the British Virgin Islands and Seychelles before being used to acquire more than 12,000 luxury items, including jewellery, watches and handbags, from 48 vendors in at least 14 countries.
The plaintiffs are seeking a proprietary injunction over the goods, a Mareva injunction to freeze Rosmah’s assets up to US$346 million and an interim preservation order over the items. - November 12, 2026
