KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here allowed the application of lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and two others to set aside an order for contempt proceedings obtained by the widow of the late private investigator P Balasubramaniam against them for allegedly disrespecting the court.
Shafee said judicial commissioner Quay Chew Soon today granted his application and those of Baling MP Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim and Dr S Ganesananthan to strike out an order to initiate contempt proceedings obtained by A Santamil Selvi.
“Her leave was thrown out with cost of RM5,000 each granted to me, Datuk Azeez and Dr Ganesan.
“Basically the judge said the allegations put forward by (businessman) Deepak Jaikishan in his affidavit for this contempt could not be trusted,” he added.
Shafee said the court dismissed Deepak’s claims that he was not properly appointed to represent the businessman during the early days in Santamil’s lawsuit.
“He claimed we put in his defence statement without authority, but the judge refused to believe it as he appeared with my co-counsel Sarah Abishegam in chambers to ask for an extension of time to file in documents,” he added.
Santamil filed the application to seek the court’s leave to initiate committal proceedings against the trio, claiming that they stopped Deepak from being cross-examined on an affidavit which he filed together with the defence statement in her suit.
She claimed that Shafee, who initially represented Deepak in the case, had intentionally and falsely informed the court that Deepak was unable to attend court as he was sick.
The proceeding, which was supposed to be heard by then judge Hue Siew Kheng in March 2018 was postponed twice after Shafee produced a medical report, issued by Ganesananthan.
Santamil also claimed that Deepak had made a police report saying Shafee, Azeez and the doctor had conspired to prevent him from attending the court proceedings by producing a false medical report.
In the affidavit filed together with the application, she claimed Deepak was prevented from attending the court proceedings as part of an attempt to prevent him from telling the truth about the involvement of former prime minister Najib Razak, who is named as a defendant in her suit.
In her statement of claim, Santamil and her three children – Kishen, Menaga and Reeshi – claimed they had to move to India following the second statutory declaration made by Bala over the murder of Mongolian citizen Altantuya Shaariibuu. They said they had stayed in India for 56 months from July 4, 2008.
They are seeking RM840,000 in damages, including for the rental of an apartment in Chennai, India, school fees and the loss of income as a kindergarten teacher, as well as housing loan, transportation cost, general and special damages and costs.
However Santamil’s lawsuit against Najib, Rosmah Mansor and six others was struck out by the Court of Appeal on grounds that she had filed the suit out of time. - FMT
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