THE Court of Appeal today allowed an appeal by 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and 10 other companies to use an additional affidavit from a former personal shopper for Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.
The affidavit is intended to support an application for a Mareva injunction concerning the alleged purchase of luxury goods using funds misappropriated from 1MDB.
A Mareva injunction is an interim order that restrains a defendant from disposing of assets until a final judgment is reached.
The unanimous decision was delivered by a three-judge panel led by Datuk Dr. Alwi Abdul Wahab.
The panel set aside a previous High Court ruling that had disallowed the companies from using the affidavit—sworn by a Singaporean national, Shabnam Naraindas Daswani, who served as a personal shopper for the wife of the former Prime Minister.
The other two judges on the panel were Datuk Ismail Brahim and Datuk Leonard David Shim.
In delivering the judgment, David Shim stated that the High Court erred in ruling that "exceptional circumstances" had to be proven before the companies could be permitted to submit an additional affidavit.
He noted that there is no provision within the Rules of Court that requires an applicant to prove "exceptional circumstances" in order to obtain an extension of time.
"The company’s application was filed on June 20 last year, before the conclusion of written submissions for the injunction proceedings on July 18 of the same year.
'The delay of approximately two and a half months in preparing the affidavit has also been satisfactorily explained,' he said.
He noted that Shabnam, initially named as the second defendant in the suit, only agreed to provide her testimony after the company withdrew its claims against her via a consent order on April 9 last year.
'The 319-page affidavit, spanning nine volumes, includes invoices, correspondence with vendors of luxury goods, photographs, and communications involving the fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho (also known as Jho Low) and Eric Tan.
'The documents detail payments for the purchase of luxury goods made through offshore entities, allegedly using funds misappropriated from 1MDB,' he stated.
David Shim argued that the affidavit is relevant to the company’s claims, as well as its applications for a Mareva injunction and a proprietary injunction.
'Furthermore, this evidence can be used to rebut the defence raised by the respondent (Rosmah), who claims that the luxury items were gifts from third parties,' he added.
'Granting leave to submit this affidavit will not cause significant prejudice to the respondent, as she will be afforded sufficient time to review and respond to its contents.'
Conversely, he argued, the company would suffer greater injustice if it were precluded from presenting evidence that only came to light after the consent order with Shabnam was finalised.
The court also ordered that costs of RM30,000 be paid to the company.
The company in question was represented by a legal team led by Datuk Lim Chee Wee, alongside Nathalie Ker and Henna Sanghvi, while Rosmah was represented by Datuk Rajan Navaratnam and Sheena Sebastian.
Previously, in September, the Kuala Lumpur High Court set January 7 as the date to hear the application for the Mareva injunction.
In the suit, 1MDB and 10 other companies filed a claim against Rosmah, seeking the return of luxury goods valued at approximately US$346 million (RM1.63 billion), which were allegedly purchased using funds misappropriated from 1MDB.
The plaintiffs allege that the funds were channelled through eight offshore entities in the British Virgin Islands and the Seychelles before being used to purchase over 12,000 luxury items—including jewellery, watches, and handbags—from 48 vendors across at least 14 countries.
The relief sought includes a proprietary injunction over the luxury goods, a Mareva injunction to freeze Rosmah’s assets up to the value of US$346 million, and an interim preservation order regarding the items in question. – November 12, 2026
