Malaysia’s deputy finance minister, Amiruddin Hamzah, has weighed on protocol for bringing in overseas jewelry purposes, and said that any personal purchases require no customs declaration. Only jewelry that has been imported through cargo shipments needs to be cleared, he concluded.
“For your information, generally, generally, customs duty or excise duty is not imposed on jewelry.
“Therefore, when the jewelry is brought into Malaysia, there is no need for them to declare it in the Customs form, if it is brought personally by the passenger, especially if it’s in their baggage.
“So that is not needed, unless it is imported through cargo. Declaration has to be done for that one,” he told media.
The Kubang Pasu MP was replying to a series of questions asked by another MP, who alluded to a case that involved Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former prime minister, Najib Razak, and dozens of pieces that were brought into the country via a Lebanese jeweler.
Without naming names, the deputy minister told parliamentarians:
“With regards to the high-profile case that [the MP has] mentioned, I think it was already answered by the Finance Minister last year, that it was brought in by an agent. Agent declared and brought it in, then there was a declaration of the same thing being brought out.
“So, there was no purchasing after it was brought in by the agent,” Amirudin added.
Imported before the surprising May upset for Najib, the sparklers reportedly are valued at RM60 (US$15 million). However, Rosmah’s legal team have strenuously denied that she used stolen funds to buy the pieces, saying that they were only sent “for viewing” purposes.
In June 2018, 44 pieces from Beirut-based Global Royalty Trading SAL were confiscated by police in a series of raids on properties associated with the couple. Global Trading has since taken legal avenues to reclaim the pieces against Najib and his wife to ensure their return.
The former PM has since made several media statements saying that some of the items taken in the raid belonged to third parties, and not to his family.
A Malaysian High Court ruled that the Lebanese company’s lawsuit against the former PM and his wife could proceed, once Bukit Aman (central police) confirm the pieces in their possession.
Rosmah had previously maintained that she was no longer on the hook for the luxury items, as they were now under the purview of Malaysian law enforcement.
