Notice filed to summon Najib to Altantuya trial

PETALING JAYA: A notice has been filed to summon Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to testify in the murder trial of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Lawyer Karpal Singh, who is holding a watching brief for Altantuya’s family and the Mongolian government, in the application filed in the Shah Alam High Court yesterday, also wanted DSP Musa Safri (Najib’s aide-de-camp), DSP Idris Abd Karim (head of the criminal division, Brickfields police station) and counsel Dhiren Rene Norendra to be summoned.

He also sought to recall P Balasubramaniam - the private eye hired by accused political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda — who was the first witness in the trial.

He said it was important to recall Balasubramaniam and summon Najib as “it is essential to the just decision of the case”.

On July 3, Balasubramaniam had made public a startling statutory declaration that linked Altantuya with Najib.

However, in a dramatic about-turn the next day, he made a second statutory declaration withdrawing the parts which implicated Najib, and said that he had made the first statutory declaration under duress.

Balasubramaniam’s whereabouts have been a mystery since then. His wife and three young children are missing as well.

Karpal said that summoning Najib is bound to admit fresh evidence to the case.

He wanted all proceedings for the trial which was supposed to resume tomorrow, to be postponed pending the disposal of his application.

The application was filed under Section 425 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) which allows a court to summon or recall any person as a witness in a trial. It also allows the court to summon or recall any such person if his evidence appears to the court to be essential to the just decision of the case.

“The entire Malaysian legal system is on trial,” Karpal said in his motion.

The prosecution team had closed its case on June 24, after calling 84 witnesses in a total of 124 days of trial and 4,000 pages of typewritten notes.

Justice Mohd Zaki Md Yasin had fixed tomorrow for submissions.

Abdul Razak, 48, was charged with abetting Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 32, and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 37, on Oct 18, 2006 in the murder of Altantuya, 28.

All three face the death penalty if convicted.

Abdul Razak was a close adviser to Najib and Azilah and Sirul were members of Najib’s security team.

Pauline Puah
The Edge
23/07/08