| Karpal Wants Najib To Testify In Altantuya Murder Trial |
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SHAH ALAM, July 21 (Bernama) -- Lawyer Karpal Singh Monday filed a notice of motion to call Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and three others to testify in the trial for the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.
The three others were police officers -- DSP Musa Safri and DSP Idris -- dan lawyer Dhiren Rene Norendra.
Karpal who holds a watching brief for Altantuya's family, also sought to recall private detective P. Balasubramaniam who was the first prosecution witness in the trial.
The notice of motion filed at the High Court Registry here at 3pm, sought the court to invoke Section 425 of the Criminal Procedure Code to recall Balasubramaniam and order Najib, Musa, Idris dan Dhiren to give evidence.
Karpal also wanted all proceedings with regard to the trial which was supposed to resume on Wednesday, to be postponed pending the disposal of his application.
In the notice of motion, Karpal said Balasubramaniam's evidence during the trial had been disputed after he made a statutory declaration on July 1 which implicated Najib and the three individuals and another declaration on July 4 through which he retracted the first declaration.
He said it was very important for the court to determine whether statements in the first declaration were true and if they were, the court should recall Balasubramaniam and order Najib to testify in the interest of justice.
Justice Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin is expected to hear Karpal's application on Wednesday.
On June 23, the prosecution rested its case after calling 84 witnesses in a total of 124 days. Judge Zaki has fixed July 23 for summings-up.
C/Insp Azilah Hadri, 32, and Cpl Sirul Azhar Umar, 37, of the police's Special Action Unit were charged with murdering 28-year-old Altantuya between 10pm on Oct 19, 2006 and 1am the next day at a secondary jungle in Bukit Raja.
Political analyst Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda, 48, was alleged to have abetted them and if convicted, all three are liable for the death penalty.
-- BERNAMA
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