Najib will take ‘sumpah laknat’ on Friday to deny Azilah’s claim he ordered Altantuya’s killing

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 18): Former premier Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak has said that he would make a “sumpah laknat” (religious oath of condemnation) to deny former Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri’s claim that he had ordered Azilah to kill Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Najib said he would make the oath at the Kampung Baru mosque on Friday.

“I intend to make the ‘sumpah laknat’ to deny the claim made in Azilah's SD (statutory declaration). This would be done after Friday prayers at the mosque,” he said in a Facebook posting today that featured a picture of him wearing an olive green baju Melayu lifting his hands in prayer.

The former premier is currently on the witness stand testifying in his cross-examination in the SRC International Sdn Bhd trial.

The ‘sumpah laknat’ is a religious oath that beeseches God to carry out divine retribution upon those who lie, and is often used by Muslims to strongly deny an accusation.

Over the past few days, Azilah — who is one of two persons convicted with the murder of Altantuya — had filed a review of the Federal Court wanting the apex court to order a re-trial of his case.

Azilah along with fellow Special Action Unit Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, are convicted with the murder by the apex court in January 2015.

However, Sirul is presently at an immigration detention centre in Sydney, Australia.

In Azilah's SD in support for a review, he claimed that in his meeting with Najib in Pekan in 2006 the then Deputy Prime Minister had purportedly asked him to terminate Altantuya whom he claimed was a foreign spy.

When Azilah asked how, the former cop said Najib allegedly said “shoot to kill” — while running a finger across his throat — and for her body to be disposed off with explosives.

The Federal Court had yesterday fixed April 20, 2020 as the hearing date of Azilah's application.

Najib then appointed Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah as his counsel to intervene in Azilah's court matter.

Shafee claimed that Azilah had left the prison to meet a VVIP before making the allegation.

However, the Prisons Department denied that Azilah, who is on death row, had left the prison and maintained he had been held in Kajang prison since 2015.

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