Well, apparently, the handbags have allegedly been ruined...by the police.

'No respect for luxury items'

The Malay Mail reported that Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, the lawyer representing Najib, claimed that the luxury handbags seized by the police in the 1MDB-linked raid have been "destroyed".

Shaffee was quoted by The Edge as saying that the police labelled the bags by tagging them with marker pen...on the surface of the bags themselves.

He reportedly made the claim during the hearing of Najib’s application to be allowed to inspect the items seized during the May 2018 raid.

According to Shaffee, the police allegedly ripped off the labels his clients kept on the items and they "had no respect" for the pricey items when tagging them.

“The expensive handbags are all destroyed because the police labelled them with a magic marker. They wrote on the handbags, these are expensive items, the police had no respect,” he was quoted by The Edge as saying.

Shaffee also claimed that the police forcefully entered the apartment without the presence of the owner, and the police's search list did not properly set out the details of the content in the boxes removed from the unit.

However, deputy public prosecutor Fatnin Yusof rebutted the claims made by Shaffee, telling New Straits Times that all items seized from the property have proper documentation.

Fatnin also added that the claims of the evidence being destroyed by the police were false, saying that the items were stored under tight controls in the vaults of Bank Negara Malaysia.

According to court documents, the Malaysian government is seeking the forfeiture of 11,991 pieces of jewellery, 401 watches and 16 watch accessories, 234 sunglasses and 306 handbags seized in May 2019, and over RM114 million worth of cash in multiple currencies that were seized in January 2019.

The Edge reported that most of the luxury items belong to Rosmah.