The controversial disclosures in former attorney-general Tommy Thomas’ memoir were raised during the murder trial of Cradle Fund CEO today.
During the proceedings at the High Court in Shah Alam, the lead counsel for the defence, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah (above), brought up the issue of contempt of court as alleged in the book.
Shafee is acting for the three accused in the murder trial, namely Samirah Muzaffar and her two sons. Samirah was the wife of murder victim Nazrin Hassan, who was the CEO for Cradle Fund.
Samirah, 45, who was also a former senior executive at the Perbadanan Harta Intelek Malaysia, and two of her teenage sons, aged 18 and 15 this year, were charged with the murder of Nazrin, together with an Indonesian national, Eka Wahyu Lestari, who is still at large.
They are accused of committing the offence in a house at Mutiara Homes, Mutiara Damansara, between 11.30pm on June 13, 2018, and 4am on June 14, 2018.
Samirah’s co-defence counsel Rahmat Hazlan today confirmed that Shafee raised the issue during proceedings before judge Ab Karim Ab Rahman.
Rahmat said Shafee raised the issue of sub judice in regard to the contents of pages 409 and 410 of Thomas’ memoir My Story: Justice in the Wilderness.
Rahmat said the alleged sub judicial excerpts are in relation to the three accused’s versions of what transpired on the night of the incident.
“The excerpts touched on the merits of the ongoing trial, involving evidence presented and yet to be presented during the proceedings, of which the court has made no determination on whether the said evidence is credible or not.
“The judge had then suggested to the prosecution on whether they could take upon the issue. However, the prosecution team said they need to discuss the matter with their superiors first before deciding on it.
“Shafee then informed the court that in the event that the prosecution later decided not to proceed with the contempt bid, then the defence team themselves will file a written application to cite Thomas for contempt,” Rahmat told Malaysiakini.
The murder trial is set to proceed this afternoon, with the next date of hearing being Feb 19.
Recently published through the publisher Gerakbudaya, Thomas’ memoir has attracted numerous brickbats from several politicians and legal practitioners.
Former attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali and ex-solicitor-general Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria have lodged police reports against Thomas regarding certain disclosures in the book.
Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, through his counsel Shafee, had issued a letter of demand to Thomas seeking a retraction of the memoir, RM10 million in damages and apology.
The legal letter was over disclosures in the book regarding the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.
Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, who in the past acted for former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in several legal challenges, has also panned Thomas on grounds of lawyer-client privilege.
However, former federal court judge Gopal Sri Ram disagreed with Haniff’s assessment, explaining that Thomas is not bound by lawyer-client privilege in relation to the disclosures in the book.
Mahathir was reportedly displeased at Thomas' criticism of him in his latest memoir, which squarely placed the blame on the Langkawi MP for the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government.
Mahathir also disputed Thomas' claim that he nominated himself as interim prime minister instead of PKR's Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail after he resigned as prime minister. - Mkini
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