PI Bala's widow seeks committal proceeding against Shafee, Azeez
A Santamil Selvi, the widow of private investigator P Balasubramaniam, is seeking leave from the Kuala Lumpur High Court to initiate a committal proceeding against senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, former Tabung Haji chairperson Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, and a doctor from Pantai Hospital.
This is based on the roles they played in preventing carpet trader Deepak Jaikishian from testifying on the two defence statements he filed in Santamil's suit against him, former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, his wife Rosmah Mansor, and six others over her family's five-year exile in India...
UPDATED 2.40PM | This is based on the roles they played in preventing Deepak from testifying.
A Santamil Selvi, the widow of private investigator P Balasubramaniam, is seeking leave from the Kuala Lumpur High Court to initiate a committal proceeding against senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, former Tabung Haji chairperson Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, and a doctor from Pantai Hospital.
This is based on the roles they played in preventing carpet trader Deepak Jaikishian from testifying on the two defence statements he filed in Santamil's suit against him, former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, his wife Rosmah Mansor, and six others over her family's five-year exile in India.
Santamil named Dr Ganesanathan Shanmuganathan in the committal application. Her application to cite the trio for contempt was filed last November.
When meeting Santamil's lawyers, Americk Sidhu and Manjeet Singh Dhillon, in chambers today, Justice Azimah Omar fixed March 8 to deliver her decision on the application.
Americk told reporters that the judge wanted further submissions on the matter, and fixed the date for the hearing and possibly, the decision as well.
In support of her application, Santamil claimed that when Deepak (photo) was to be cross-examined by her lawyers on March 19, 2018, Shafee had falsely informed the court that his client was suffering from an illness.
"As a result of the false statement given by the lawyer, Deepak's re-examination cannot be held and this was postponed to March 27, 2018.
"On March 27, the cross-examination could not be held due to the actions of the trio, and Ganesanathan knew that he was preparing a false medical report for Deepak, resulting in further postponement, which was done unlawfully," she alleged.
Santamil further claimed that on April 13, last year, the re-examination had to be postponed again when Deepak was prevented from attending court.
"Such actions by Shafee and Azeez were to ensure that Deepak would not attend and testify in a bid to prevent him from being cross-examined," she said.
Santamil added that Deepak lodged a police report on Sept 14, 2018, at the Dang Wangi police station, alleging that the trio had acted to prevent him from being cross-examined and telling the truth.
It was previously reported that Deepak filed two defences in Santamil's suit. The first was given directly to Americk, and the second was filed by Shafee's firm.
When applying for a postponement on March 27, Shafee claimed that Deepak was "bleeding from at least one end."
