The Malaysian Insight

THE Federal Court will hear a review application by former commando Azilah Hadri, who was convicted of the murder of Mongolian interpreter Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006 and is seeking a retrial. 

His lawyer J. Kuldeep Kumar today said the apex court will hear the review application on April 20, 2020. Azilah’s applications to set aside the 2015 Federal Court ruling, which overturned his acquittal, and another for a retrial, were filed last week.

Azilah’s application is accompanied by a statutory declaration dated October 17, in which he accused former prime minister Najib Razak of ordering Altantuya’s murder. 

“I confirm that… there is a Rule 137 application and a review application supported by an affidavit. That’s all I have to say,” Kuldeep told reporters after case management. 

Rule 137 of the Federal Court Rules 1995 states that the court can hear any application or to make any order as may be necessary to prevent injustice or to prevent an abuse of the process of the Court. 

On whether he would be handing over Azilah’s statutory declaration to the police, Kuldeep said, “Basically I have no comments on that for the time being”.

Azilah had been member of Najib’s security detail and said in the statutory declaration he was recommended for the job by the Pekan MP’s aide-de-camp in 2006, DSP Musa Safri.

Azilah also said Najib’s close associate, Abdul Razak Baginda, also known as the then deputy prime minister’s special officer, repeated the instructions to kill Altantuya, and confirmed with him that the order had come from Najib.

Razak, who was initially charged with abetting the murder, was later acquitted.

Azilah and fellow commando Sirul Azhar Umar were convicted of murdering Altantuya in 2009. They were sentenced to death by the apex court in 2015.

A year prior to his conviction, Sirul fled to Australia and has been held at a Sydney detention centre since.

Meanwhile, Najib has also applied as intervenor in Azilah’s review application. The former PM yesterday denied Azilah’s claims and said it was Pakatan Harapan’s way of silencing him and a distraction from their own weaknesses.

Altantuya’s family has also engaged lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo to hold a watching brief on their behalf.

Sangeet urged for fresh investigations into claims made in Azilah’s statutory declaration.

“This SD contains information that must be investigated. It contains names whose statements have to be taken all over again. It’s no longer an issue of no leads (for investigation). There are so many leads and it must be investigated immediately.

“The question was always who was behind it. That is the question that would be answered now with the right investigations done immediately,” she added. – December 17, 2019.