Federal court fixed Dec 8 to hear Najib's application to intervene in Azilah's review

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has fixed Dec 8 to hear Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's application to intervene in former police Special Action Unit (UTK) officer Azilah Hadri's review bid to set aside his conviction and death sentence for the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Lawyer Sarah Abishegam representing the former prime minister, when contacted, said Federal Court deputy registrar Suhaila Haron also set the same day to hear Azilah's review application.

The hearing of the two applications was initially fixed on Oct 21 but were vacated following imposition of Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya which has been extended until Nov 9.

Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Azmi Mashud appeared for the prosecution while lawyer J. Kuldeep Kumar appeared for Azilah.

Azilah filed his review application on December 5, last year together with his 32-page statutory declaration which he claimed that the order to kill Altantuya had come from Najib who was deputy prime minister then.

Azilah, 43, is seeking to set aside his conviction and death sentence imposed by the Federal Court on Jan 13, 2015, and an order for retrial.

In December last year, lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the media that his client, Najib, had totally denied everything alleged by Azilah.

Azilah and Sirul Azhar Umar, 47, were convicted and sentenced to death by the Shah Alam High Court in 2009 for Altantuya's murder at Mukim Bukit Raja in Shah Alam between 10pm on October 19 and 1am the following day in 2006.

They were, however, discharged and acquitted by the Court of Appeal in 2013 which allowed their appeal to set aside their conviction and death sentence.

In 2015, the Federal Court overturned the acquittal of the two police UTK officers and restored the High Court decision to find them guilty for the offence.

-- BERNAMA