KUALA LUMPUR (July 8): The High Court has fixed Sept 28 to hear applications by 1Malaysia Development Bhd and 11 other companies to freeze the assets of Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor via a Mareva injunction, in connection with their US$346 million (RM1.4 billion) lawsuit against her.

During case management on Wednesday, newly appointed Judicial Commissioner Datuk Muhammad Adam @ Edward Abdullah also scheduled the court to hear applications by 1MDB and the co-plaintiffs to amend their writ of summons, as well as to request further and better particulars regarding their suit.

Muhammad Adam is the fourth judicial officer assigned to preside over this trial. He has fixed 22 trial dates spanning June and July next year — June 28 to July 2, 2027; July 5 to July 9, 2027; and July 19, 2027 to July 30, 2027 — to hear the case.

The dates were confirmed by Rosmah’s counsel Datuk Rajan Navaratnam and 1MDB’s counsels Datuk Lim Chee Wee and Lee Shih of Messrs Lim Chee Wee Partnership, when contacted by The Edge.

The court sought to fix fewer hearing dates, but on 1MDB's application, decided to fix more dates, as it pledged to prioritise the case.

Mohamad Adam was appointed to the case last week, replacing judge Datuk Wan Muhammad Amin Wan Yahya following the latter's transfer to the Kuala Lumpur High Court's International Commercial and Admiralty Division.

Prior to Wan Muhammad Amin, judges Leong Wai Hong and Adlin Abdul Majid briefly presided over the case.

The US$346 million civil suit against Rosmah, wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, was filed by 1MDB and its subsidiaries in June 2024. The plaintiffs allege that funds misappropriated from 1MDB, its former subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd and related companies were used to purchase luxury goods.

The case revolves around Rosmah's alleged acquisitions, using diverted funds, of about 12,000 pieces of jewellery and luxury handbags from 48 vendors across 14 countries.

The companies claim that the transactions were part of a larger fraud scheme to transfer funds out of Malaysia and into entities with no connection to the companies' investment mandates. They contend that the transactions served merely as a conduit to obscure the final destinations of the stolen cash.

Rosmah is challenging the suit, as well as the companies' application to impose the asset-freezing Mareva injunction against her.

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