Rosmah Mansor beli kalung berlian pink bernilai RM97.2 juta buatan Lorraine Schwartz
Menurut Schwartz, Rosmah telah meminta berlian 18 karat, namun dia hanya mempunyai berlian merah jambu 22 karat dan urus niaga akhirnya dicapai untuk pembelian batu permata bersaiz lebih besar. Tahun seterusnya, 2014, Rosmah dilaporkan turut membeli barang kemas tambahan bernilai AS$1.3 juta (RM5.5 juta).
Hangpa ingat dak dulu macam mana Najib dan Rosmah kelentong pasai berlian pink bernilai RM97.2 juta ni?... 👇👇👇
Najib lied again? The evidence provided by Schwartz contradicted former PM Najib Abdul Razak's claim in 2018 that the diamond was a gift from United Arab Emirates’ Sheikh Mansour Zayed...
Kaki kelentong No 1...
Jury shown invoice of US$23 million
diamond necklace created for Rosmah...
The jury in the trial of former Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker Roger Ng finally got a look at hard proof of the treasures bought with money allegedly looted in the multibillion-dollar 1MDB corruption scandal.
But the jurors did not get to see the actual US$23 million necklace with a pink diamond big enough to be a paperweight that was created by prestigious New York jeweller Lorraine Schwartz for Rosmah Mansor, the wife of the former prime minister Najib Razak. They were not even shown a photo of the necklace. They saw an invoice.
And so it went on Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court, where prosecutors were winding down their case and showing jurors how billions of dollars diverted from three US$6.5 billion 1MDB bond transactions by fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, were used to buy luxury items.
Low is also accused of diverting funds from 1MDB to Najib’s stepson, Riza Aziz, who was a friend of the financier, to help produce “The Wolf of Wall Street”. Continue reading...
Remember Najib’s claim he had returned $620 million? – U.S. exposed how Rosmah bought RM97 million pink diamond necklace...
Najib Razak, the disgraced former Malaysian prime minister sent to 12 years in prison for corruption, is a known serial liar. There are tonnes of lies he had spewed over the years. When he was still in power, he lied that he did not know partner-in-crime Jho Low, not to mention repetitively said he did not steal any money – even after US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) was found in his bank accounts.
He has many favourite lies. One of them was that the money which he had stolen was donations from Arab royal family. Don’t laugh – at least 4 million Malaysian Malays were so impressed with his story that they voted for Najib Razak in the 2018 General Election. Another favourite lie was that he had returned US$620 million to the senders.
There are basically three phases of “LIES” that Najib has mastered over the years in his political career. First – “deny” all the allegations. Second, when you cannot deny anymore, “divert” the attention elsewhere. Third, “blame” everyone except himself and his families. Repeat the process again until people get confused and sick and tired of his lies.
So, when he was first linked to the 1MDB scandal, he kept denying that he knew Jho Low or had siphoned money from the US$6.5 billion in bonds that Goldman Sachs helped to raise between 2009 and 2014. When that failed, he diverted the attention to Saudi, knowing very well the Malay Muslims will believe anything he said whenever the “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosque”s card is flashed.
At one time (July 2015), in another cheap diversion tactic, Najib threatened to sue the Wall Street Journal for exposing the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal. Four months later, the shameless (former) prime minister chicken out with a laughable excuse – he was not a well known personality in that country (America) in order to obtain higher damages.
After his government was stunningly toppled in the May 2018 General Election, he started blaming everyone after he was arrested and charged. He blamed the judiciary system and the social media for being unfair to him. He blamed the newly elected Pakatan Harapan government for being vengeful. Hilariously, he has even blamed Jho Low for scamming him.
However, for the last 3 years, thanks to the trials that have been progressing at a snail’s pace, Mr Najib has yet to face the 1MDB Trial. When he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined RM210 million in July 2020 for abuse of power, money laundering and breach of trust (CBT), it only involved RM42 million stolen from SRC International Sdn Bhd (a subsidiary of 1MDB).
Instead, the explosive 1MDB scandal saw its first trial involving ex-Goldman banker Roger Ng Chong Hwa in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York. The trial of Mr Ng, a Malaysian, has opened a can of worms which is damaging to the former Malaysian premier at a critical time when he embarks on a journey to make a comeback as prime minister again.
For example, the despicable man can no longer claim that the US$681 million was donations from Saudi royal family. In the trial against Ng, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) has testified in the court that not only Jho Low had stolen US$1.42 billion (RM6 billion), Najib Razak similarly stole US$756 million (RM3.2 billion) while his stepson, Riza Aziz, pocketed US$238 million (RM1 billion).
Not only the testimony from FBI forensic accountant Eric Van Dorn is the first time the U.S. authorities have detailed how those involved in the 1MDB deals were paid and how much they received, it has confirmed for the third time – after previous confirmation from the U.S. DOJ and U.S. Securities Commission – that there was no Saudi donations whatsoever, as claimed by Najib.
Now, for the first time since Najib hoodwinked 4-million gullible Malays, the American jury finally got a look at “hard proof” of the treasure bought with the so-called US$620 million that Najib claimed to have had returned. Part of the stolen money was used to buy a 22-carat pink diamond necklace worth a staggering US$23 million (RM97 million) for Najib’s wife – Rosmah Mansor.
But how could that happen when Najib had returned the donation money? Here’s where Najib should be given a trophy for his lies. It was only half-truth when he said US$620 million had been returned. What he didn’t tell his stupid supporters was that he did not return the money to the Saudi royal family (because there is none), but had transferred it to Tanore Finance Corp. account in Singapore.
Tanore Finance had been just a staging account set up by Jho Low and Najib Razak to be diverted again to fund their lavish lifestyle. The account had nothing to do with Saudi government or the kingdom’s royal family. In fact, a month after the US$620 million was returned to the Tanore, the money was used to purchase a 22-K pink diamond necklace for Rosmah.
According to U.S.-DOJ investigations as early as 2017, Jho Low had arranged for jewellery designer Lorraine Schwartz (also known as “Jewish Queen of Oscar Bling”) for the pink diamond – with a heart-shaped gem – on June 2, 2013. In August the same year, Najib conveniently returned US$620 million to Tanore Finance, after receiving US$681 million from the same account in March 2013.
Apparently, Rosmah wanted an 18-carat diamond, but Schwartz said she only had a 22-carat pink diamond. Schwartz subsequently travelled to Monaco on July 5, 2013 and met Jho Low aboard the Topaz, one of the largest private yachts in the world built at a cost of €400 million. Jho Low had chartered the 147-meter yacht for 7 days at a cost of €3.5 million.
Aboard the Topaz, Schwartz showed the pink diamond to a group of people – Jho Low, Rosmah, and one of her friends. The group happily discussed the design of the necklace to hold the 22-carat pink diamond. On Sept 28, 2013, Schwartz met again with Jho Low and Rosmah in a hotel suite in the Mandarin Time Warner in New York in order to show them the layout of the necklace design.
The 22-carat pink diamond, described as “22.17-carat Natural Fancy Intense Pink VS2 clarity (GIA#2115637296) Cut-Cornered Square Modified Brilliant Cut diamond,” was invoiced on 3 July, 2013 for a jaw-dropping US$23,000,000. The second invoice, dated July 31, 2013, was for US$4,300,000 for the accompanying necklace. Hence, the total cost was US27,300,000.
Schwartz was asked to invoice Blackrock Commodities (Global) Limited (“Blackrock”). On Sept 9, 2013, just days after Najib proudly told all and sundry that he had returned US$620 million to its original donor (Tanore Finance), US$58,849,050 was wired from the same Tanore Account to another account at Falcon Bank in Singapore held in the name of Midhurst Trading Limited (“Midhurst Trading Account”).
The following day (Sept 10, 2013), Midhurst transferred US$32,760,000 to an account at DBS Bank Ltd. in Singapore held by Blackrock (referred to as “Blackrock Account” by DOJ). On the same day, Blackrock made two separate wire transfers to a bank account at Bank of America in New York held by Lorraine Schwartz Inc. in payment for the 22-carat pink diamond necklace.
Investigations done by US-DOJ also revealed that “Blackrock Account” was used to do nothing but to pay for jewellery purchases for Jho Low and their associates, including Auntie Rosie. In fact, between April 2013 and September 2014, the account was used to purchase a total of approximately US$200 million (RM840 million) in jewellery, again, using funds traceable to the 2013 bonds and the 2014 Deutsche Bank loans.
Besides the 22-carat pink diamond necklace, Rosmah had also purchased 27 other jewelleries from the same “Jewish Queen of Oscar Bling”. The 27 pieces of jewelleries, all 18K – white gold, yellow gold, rose gold, black gold – of bangles or necklaces, were priced from US$40,172 to US$240,000 a pop and were purchased during dinner between Rosmah and Schwartz at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles.
Known as a “PONZI” scheme, the details of how the pink diamond necklace was purchased with money stolen from 1MDB had already been exposed in 2017, when the U.S. Justice Department released its investigation papers – documents as thick as 251-page – that linked then-PM Najib Razak as the “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” and Rosmah as the “wife of MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1”.
Najib didn’t return the US$620 million to his self-proclaimed Saudi royal family because the money was unused (as he famously claims). He returned it because he needed to siphon it elsewhere, as instructed by Jho Low whenever Rosmah wanted to buy more “bling-bling”. The money was siphoned from the three bond sales for 1MDB (code-named Project Magnolia, Maximus and Catalyze).
Under “Project Maximus”, the second bonds issued by 1MDB in 2012, known as Aabar BVI phase, Najib received US$30 million. But the juiciest kickbacks came from the “Project Catalyze” (Tanore phase) in 2013 when the disgraced Malaysian leader received a further US$681 million misappropriated from 1MDB. Now, the jigsaw puzzle is almost solved.
The U.S. authorities (DOJ, SEC and FBI) have been very consistent in their investigation since then-U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced that the Justice Department filed lawsuits to seize assets on July 20, 2016. But the same cannot be said about Najib and Rosmah, who have displayed flip-flop, inconsistency and contradiction in their half-baked fairy tales.
From insisting that the RM2.7 billion in his bank accounts was a donation from the Saudi royal family, to saying he was “assuming” the money was donations, and to blaming Jho Low for scamming him, Najib is as guilty as hell. Now, Rosmah cried that it was a UAE price (Sheikh Mansour Zayed) who had wanted to give a pink diamond necklace to her. Do they dare sue the Government of the United States?
Like it or not, both Najib and his lovely wife Rosmah are in trouble. The testimonies in the U.S. court could be used in Malaysian court during the coming 1MDB trial against them. The evidence will definitely influence the outcome of the Najib’s pending appeal at the Federal Court. It would be harder, if not impossible, for the Attorney General’s Chamber or the Kangaroo Court to throw away their charges.
Roll out the red carpet for Rosmah...
In Malaysia, you do or die. You do not procrastinate. Our judiciary had a chance to jail the convicted felon, Najib Abdul Razak, but didn't. With every passing day since his SRC International trial, Najib has sapped our energy and sanity. His supporters believe that he is innocent and demand that his slate be wiped clean.
Law-abiding citizens are losing faith and trust in the institutions which should be protecting them, and that includes the judiciary.
Meanwhile, Najib struts around like a prime-minister-in-waiting. He engaged an American PR firm to spruce up his dented image. Despite the damaging testimonies during the trial of the Goldman Sachs banker, Roger Ng, Najib has sailed from strength to strength. The cherry on the cake being the Umno win in Johor.
When he is finally installed once more as PM, Najib will say, "I told you so! Cash is king."
How many times have we been reminded that we follow the Westminster system of justice and that Najib's crime was a bailable offence? We are also told that it was left to the judges' discretion to jail Najib. So what prompted the reluctance to jail him? He could just as easily have lodged his appeal from prison.
So, why did the judiciary fail us with Najib? No lessons will be learnt by other corrupt and potentially corrupt politicians. They see a lax system. In the shadows of the corridors of power, they whisper, "It's the Deep State at work."
You may think that Najib's return as PM is bad, but picture this: The red carpet will soon be rolled out for the former, self-styled First lady of Malaysia (FLOM), Rosmah Mansor, to take her rightful place beside Najib.
Yet again, Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been proven right. To paraphrase him, Malaysians are forgetful. Najib's supporters, MCA and MIC, have forgotten that Najib is a convict. He stole their money, too.
Did anyone notice Rosmah at any of the Umno by-election campaigns and victory speeches? No! All throughout, she has been safely hidden away from public view. She only surfaces at her own corruption trials.
Rosmah is kept out of sight because she sets our pulses racing and increases our blood pressure. She reminds us of Najib's criminal past. His simple strategy to make us forget his crimes was effective. "Out of sight, out of mind." Fortunately for most Malaysians, yesterday’s trial in America, brought it all flooding back.
We recall Najib's soundbite, "Cash is king', and that Rosmah saved since her teenage years to purchase her expensive jewellery. Members of Najib's former cabinet lied about the Arab prince. The investigative bodies, like the MACC, the police, and the former attorney-general all found Najib as innocent as a newborn babe.
Lorraine Schwartz and Rosmah
The pink diamond
On March 24, the jury in Ng's trial was told that there was no Arab prince who would donate RM2.6 billion. There was no teenage piggy bank, even for someone as 'frugal' as Rosmah. The shockwaves during the trial were felt from America to Malaysia. Parallels have been drawn between the American and Malaysian investigations. The focus centred on the quality, depth, and thoroughness of the investigations.
First. Who is lying? Is it New York jeweller Lorraine Schwartz, who was commissioned to design Rosmah's necklace? Or Najib? Schwartz said that she sold a 22-carat diamond necklace worth US$23 million (RM97 million) to Rosmah. In 2018, Najib claimed that the pink diamond was a gift from Sheikh Mansour Zayed of the UAE.
Najib has not denied Schwarz's testimony. Does this mean he lied?
Second. Where is the pink diamond? No photo of the diamond or necklace has emerged. Why not? Was the pink diamond amongst the items seized by the Malaysian police when they raided Najib's residence in 2018?
Jurors were told that the pink diamond was like a paperweight. Something as huge as this would have been singled out in the haul of several items seized from Najib's residences. So, where is the diamond/necklace?
Third. Tim Leissner's sweetener for his Malay mistress, Rohana Rozhan, was a townhouse in London, worth US$10 million. The money allegedly came from 1MDB. The MACC acted with speed. Within days of Leissner's testimony, they twice interviewed Rohana and subsequently froze her assets. When will Rosmah and Najib visit the MACC headquarters?
Fourth. How does one convince the gullible Malaysian public that Najib is guilty? His theft of taxpayers' money has plunged Malaysia into debt and it is our children and grandchildren who are burdened with debt payments.
If any kind of reform is to become a reality, Pakatan Harapan is the only viable show in town. Time and again, Umno and its various clones, like Bersatu, Pejuang and PAS, have failed the rakyat.
Harapan is not perfect and it has a lot of soul searching to do before it can become palatable and trusted again by the Malaysian public.Will PKR president Anwar Ibrahim's ego allow him to stand down for younger creative leaders to manage Harapan?
The alternative, which is a return to a government led by Najib, is too horrible to contemplate. His newly revitalised Umno will be merciless and remove all obstacles to their rule.
If Najib returns as PM, the kleptocratic days of his previous tenure will be nothing compared to the new plans which he has lined up for you.Do nothing at your peril.- Mariam Mokhtar
cheers.
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