Bar Council's case against Cecil Abraham goes to Court of Appeal

The Bar Council has filed an appeal over Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision last month to dismiss its appeal against a disciplinary board’s decision to clear senior lawyer Cecil Abraham of professional misconduct.

This will take the matter for hearing before the Court of Appeal.

The case was in relation to the lawyer’s supposed role in drafting the second statutory declaration of the late private investigator P Balasubramaniam, pertaining to the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case.

It is understood that the notice of appeal was filed yesterday.

A source familiar to the case at the council has confirmed with Malaysiakini over the filing.

On Dec 5, the High Court ruled that it did not find any reason to interfere with the decision of the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board.

Balasubramaniam had made his first statutory declaration on March 1, 2008 that among others implicated Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in the murder of the Mongolian national.

However, he retracted his first statutory declaration by making a second statutory declaration, and subsequently he and his family fled the country.

Upon his return to Malaysia almost five years later, he claimed that the second declaration was made under duress.

Najib had repeatedly denied involvement in the murder.

At the Malaysian Bar’s 2013 annual general meeting, a group of 14 lawyers pressed the Bar Council to act over the second statutory declaration. At the same meeting, Balasubramaniam’s lawyer Americk Sidhu claimed that Cecil had admitted to him that he was the one who prepared the second statutory declaration, upon Najib’s instruction.

However, the disciplinary board cleared Cecil of professional misconduct in March last year.- Mkini