NAJIB, ROSMAH'S FINAL ESCAPE FROM ALTANTUYA? Fate of former bodyguards Azilah, Sirul to be known Tuesday

Come Jan 13, the fate of two police Special Action Unit members, charged with the murder of Mongolian woman, Altantuya Shaariibuu, will be announced by the highest court in the country.

The Federal Court will finally deliver its much anticipated decision on the prosecution's appeal against the acquittal of chief inspector Azilah Hadri and corporal Sirul Azhar Umar - more than six months after hearing submissions on the matter.

Azilah and Sirul were acquitted by the three-member Court of Appeal panel in an unanimous decision in August 2013, as it found there were serious misdirections by Shah Alam High Court judge Justice Mohd Zaki Yasin.

The misdirections included the prosecution's failure to call then Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's aide de camp deputy superintendent Musa Safri to the trial.

The date was revealed following a tweet by MYJudiciary, the twitter handle of the chief registrar's office of the Federal Court. It also urged the public to follow it for the full grounds of judgment.

Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria leads the five-member bench hearing the prosecution's appeal.

Deputy solicitor-general I Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah, who led the prosecution team, also confirmed the date.

“I have not seen the notice (from the registrar) but was informed by my officers,” he said.

Azilah's lawyer Hazman Ahmad and counsels for Sirul, Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin and Hasnal Rezua Merican also affirmed the date.

“We have received notice from the registrar,” Hasnal Rezua said.

Complex case

Last month, Malaysiakini questioned why the verdict took so long to deliver as it was six months since the prosecution's appeal was heard, on June 25.

This followed a circular issued to all judges that it was standard practice for written judgments and decisions to be made within three months.

Justice Arifin (left) however on commenting on the Anwar Ibrahim Sodomy II appeal acknowledged that the Court of Appeal and Federal Court could require more time.

“It may take six months to complete the judgment. It depends on the complexity of the case," he was quoted as saying in Bernama.

Besides Justice Arifin, the other judges who sat in the five-member Federal Court panel in the Altantuya case were Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjum and Federal Court judges Abdull Hamid Embong, Ahmad Maarop and Suriyadi Halim Omar.

The murder case grabbed international attention as it was linked to the purchase of Malaysia's two Scorpene submarines, a controversial deal done under Najib's time as defence minister.

It was also claimed that Altantuya's immigration record of entry into the country was deleted and initially political scientist Abdul Razak Baginda, a close confidante of Najib, was also charged.

However, Abdul Razak was acquitted without his defence being called at the end of the prosecution's case and there was no appeal against his acquittal.

PI Bala’s contradictory SDs

Private investigator, the late P Balasubramaniam, who was hired by Abdul Razak to stop Altantuya and his two relatives from harassing him, was also called as a witness during the sensational trial.

Balasubramaniam later made a statutory declaration (SD) in July 2008, alleging that Najib had known the Mongolian lass.

Subsequently, he was allegedly forced to retract that SD and made a second one, a day later, to deny the first. Balasubramaniam and his family then moved to India.

Last June, Balasubramaniam's widow A Santamil Selvi, named Najib, his wife Rosmah, and Najib's two younger brothers - Ahmad Johari, and Nazim - along with senior lawyer Cecil Abraham and his son Sunil, in a RM1.9 million for alleged criminal conspiracy, threat, abetment, fabricating and using false evidence, wrongful confinement, abduction, kidnapping to a foreign country, and expulsion.

However, the Kuala Lumpur High Court struck out the suit last month.

Altantuya was murdered between 10pm on Oct 19, 2006 and 1am Oct 20, 2006 in a jungle clearing at Puncak Alam, Selangor. Her father, Shaariibuu Setev, had also filed a suit against the government following her death. - M'kini