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Vida gives RM80,000 in jewellery to singer, laments ‘fake diamond’ episode hurt biz empire

Datuk Seri Hasmiza Othman apologises to Season 4 Gegar Vaganza (GV4) champion Aishah for the fake diamond controversy during a press conference in Ipoh July 6, 2019. — Bernama pic
Datuk Seri Hasmiza Othman apologises to Season 4 Gegar Vaganza (GV4) champion Aishah for the fake diamond controversy during a press conference in Ipoh July 6, 2019. — Bernama pic

KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 — Flamboyant cosmetics entrepreneur Datuk Seri Hasmiza Othman — otherwise known as Datuk Seri Vida — has finally ended her year-long dispute with singer Wan Aishah Wan Ariffin by gifting RM80,000 worth of jewellery the latter hand-picked.

Vida said this ended the controversy stemming from her previous gift of jewellery purportedly worth RM80,000 to Aishah that was declared as fake, but lamented that the debacle allegedly cost her millions in losses and almost destroyed her business empire.

In a press conference yesterday, Vida announced that Aishah personally selected five pieces of jewellery at a jeweller in Bangsar here.

These included a one-carat diamond worth RM27,100, a 0.70-carat diamond worth RM12,920, an 18-carat gold ring with diamond (RM20,820), an 18-carat white gold ring (RM11,410) and a white gold with diamond (RM7,750), news outlet Kosmo reported.

“Although previously I had replaced with other jewellery, but I cancelled it as Aishah claimed my jewellery had depreciated in value.

“The best way, I let Aishah choose herself the jewellery set that she desires,” she was quoted as saying by Kosmo at the press conference that was also attended by Aishah’s lawyers, displaying the jewellery to the media.

Vida said the handing over of the jewellery worth RM80,000 was according to the terms of a mediation session with Aishah earlier this month.

The outcome of the mediation required Vida to pay RM80,000 in retail prices for jewellery to Aishah by July 17, make a public apology in a press conference, and pay RM7,500 for Aishah’s legal costs.

In a separate news report, Astro Awani quoted Vida as saying that she could have just chosen the jewellery before handing it over to Aishah since it was a gift, but decided not to do so to avoid further controversy.

“But I wanted to let her be satisfied, I don’t want this issue to be raised again. So I let her make her own choices. The shop that was selected is also not just any shop,” she said, adding that the RM80,000 sum was paid by her daughter known as Cik B with profits from the latter’s business.

Vida insisted that she had not cheated and that the previous jewellery gifted to Aishah was worth the sum claimed but had allegedly depreciated in value as time passed.

She added that she would be more careful in giving gifts after this episode but would continue to sponsor programmes as part of her business marketing strategy.

In a separate report by mStar, Vida said the year-long criticism online where her initial jewellery gift was denounced to be false had destroyed her business empire and caused a loss in public confidence towards her products with resulting losses of millions in ringgit.

“My business especially jewellery suffered drastic losses. If each month I can get an estimated RM10 million, but after this issue I lost income of almost 80 per cent,” she said.

The showdown between the two began last year after Aishah discovered her jewellery prize for the fourth season of the Gegar Vaganza singing contest sponsored by Vida, supposedly priced at RM80,000, was a mere fake after an appraisal.

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