US jeweller backs Rosmah’s denial of RM24m ring buy
Ida Lim, TMI
American jeweller Jacob & Co has come out to refute allegations that Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor bought a RM24 million diamond ring from it in 2011, lending credence to the latter’s attempt to shake off criticisms over her spending habits.
In a YouTube video uploaded by blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin yesterday, an employee from the New York-based jewellery firm said the wife of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had only inspected the ring, which was later sold to an unnamed client in June last year.
“It was shipped for exhibition and inspection purposes only, not for sale, to the attention of Maira Nazarbayev in care of Madam Rosmah Mansor (picture),” Philip Nassimi, the director of fine jewellery at Jacob & Co said in the video, referring to the mother of Rosmah’s future son-in law.
Opposition leaders have been using the ring controversy to back their allegations that the wife of the country’s chief executive has been abusing her position to reap riches and finery for herself.
In the deep interior of Malaysia’s Malay-majority constituencies, CDs, pamphlets and glossy photographs showing Rosmah and the RM24 million ring have been distributed since 2011, years ahead of the coming 13th general election.
But according to Nassimi’s video interview, the 30.11-carat blue-grey diamond ring worth US$8 million (RM24.8 million) was shipped from New York to Malaysia on April 15, 2011, but was returned to Jacob & Co on May 13, 2011, and was never purchased by Rosmah.
In the video, shipping documents and a US Customs and Border Protection paper were shown to prove that the ring was indeed shipped out of Malaysia and then back to the American firm.
Nassimi said Rosmah’s name appeared on the shipping documents only because the jewellery firm was required to address the item to a Malaysian as Nazarbayev is not a citizen of the country.
“The reason why on the house airway bill it was mentioned Madam Rosmah Mansor’s name was because in order to ship a valuable into Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, it had to be shipped in care of a local Malaysian, not a foreigner.”
He also said: “Due to the fact that Maira Nazarbayev was residing as a guest in the prime minister’s residence, the item had to be shipped in such a manner.”
Nassimi said Nazarbayev is a highly-respected VIP client with almost 10 years of dealings with the firm, adding that another VIP client had bought the ring, but declined to name the individual.
“This ring was not purchased by Madam Rosmah nor Maira Nazarbayev,” he concluded in the video that was over three minutes long.
