Karpal to call Najib and Musa Safri in Altantuya civil suit

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his former aide-de-camp DSP Musa Safri will be subpoenaed to testify in the civil suit filed by Altantuya Shaariibuu's father, Setev.

Counsel Karpal Singh (pic), who is holding a watching brief for Setev, said he will push for the suit to be heard soon.

Setev filed a RM100-million civil suit against Abdul Razak Baginda, Azilah Hadri, Sirul Azhar Umar and the Malaysian government in June 2007.

The suit had been put on hold pending the appeal filed by Azilah and Sirul. Both policemen were acquitted today while Razak, who was charged with abetting the two, was acquitted in October 2008.

"We will now call the prime minister and Musa. Musa could not have acted on his own," Karpal said in Shah Alam today.

Karpal said despite Azilah's and Sirul's acquittal, Setev still has a recourse in the civil suit.

"This will be a chance to establish guilt on the balance of probability," he said.

"I will now have to activate the suit to have the case fixed for case management."

However, he said there was still a possibility the case would remain on hold pending an appeal by the Attorney-General's Chambers following today's ruling.

When asked if the acquittal would have a bearing in the civil suit, Karpal said, "Yes. But we still have this avenue to hold them liable. Take American footballer OJ Simpson's case. He was acquitted for murdering his wife, but was later found liable in the civil suit for her death and was ordered to pay damages.

"This (referring to Altantuya's case) is a serious matter. Someone comes to our country, gets blown up and end of the day, no one is held liable."

Karpal also took a swipe at the prosecution team handling the case.

"They should be held liable for the defects," he said referring to several points which were raised by the Court of Appeal bench in their judgment this morning.

"It just shows they are not up to mark." - August 23, 2013.