Najib plans to intervene in ex-UTK Azilah's review application

PUTRAJAYA (Dec 17): Former PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak (pictured) is set to file an application to intervene in former police Special Action Unit officer Azilah Hadri's review application to set aside his 2015 conviction for the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu, The Star reported today.

"There are many allegations that were thrown (at Najib) in the affidavit and the review application. So, from this point, it is obvious.

"You cannot make condemnation [allegations] against someone and the court can't make a decision against anyone who is condemned in the proceedings without the person being in court to be given the right to answer," Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said after the case management for the review application at the Federal Court before Deputy Registrar Azniza Mohd Ali today.

Muhammad Shafee was also seeking “to at least be able to be included in the watching brief”.

The lawyer was also suspicious about the allegations “surfacing” again after 10 years.

"These allegations are raised for the first time in 10 years and my client has denied all of the allegations," he said.

"I know for a fact that Sirul [Azhar Umar] too has been making movements in Sydney because there are two or three people I know who has been persuading him to come out with something of this sort.

"We feel that this is coordinated [and] it is a mischievous application," Muhammad Shafee added.

Meanwhile, Azilah's lawyer J Kuldeep Kumar also confirmed that his client had filed the review application last week under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court 1995 with an order for a retrial, reported The Edge Markets.

Kuldeep said the application to review Azilah's conviction was supported by the SD and affidavits.

Lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo had filed an application to hold a watching brief in the review for Altantuya's family.

"More importantly, the police should conduct an investigation, as fresh evidence has emerged following the filing of the SD," she said.

The deputy registrar set April 20, 2020 for the hearing brief of the application during case management.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Norina Bahadun said they will study the SD before briefing the Attorney-General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas on the next course of action.

Malaysiakini reported yesterday based on a statutory declaration dated Oct 17, 2019 where Azilah revealed that Najib ordered him to “arrest and destroy” Altantuya Shaariibuu.