Despite the Court of Appeal ruling that the failure of the prosecution to call Deputy Superintendent Musa Safri to the stand had weakened its case, the Attorney-General’s stand is still that Musa was of no relevance to it.
Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, in disagreeing with the ruling, said there was no need to call Musa, who was the aide-de-camp of Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to unfold the narrative of the prosecution’s case.
"While respecting the Court of Appeal, the Attorney-General's Chambers is dissatisfied with the decision. Non-direction or misdirection by the trial court is not the fault of the prosecution,” Gani said in a statement today.
"As far as DSP Musa Safri is concerned, we maintain that his testimony had no relevance at all as the whole narrative of the prosecution's case had been unfolded in the trial below. Hence, an appeal to the Federal Court will be filed."
The Court of Appeal this morning allowed the appeal of the two former policemen, Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar, who were convicted of murdering Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.
In their judgment, the three-man panel said the failure to call Musa hurt the prosecution's case.
Lawyer Karpal Singh, who was holding a watching brief for Altantuya’s family, has said he intends to subpoena Musa and Najib as witnesses in a RM100 million civil suit filed by Altantuya's father, Setev Shaariibuu, against Abdul Razak Baginda, Azilah, Sirul and the government over his daughter’s death.
Abdul Razak was also charged with the murder but was acquitted in 2008 without his defence being called.
The civil suit was put on hold pending today’s appeal and is likely to be further delayed because of the AG’s intention to appeal today’s decision.
0 comments:
Post a Comment