Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Altantuya trial: Razak Baginda loses his cool

Wednesday August 13, 2008 MYT 4:56:07 PM

Altantuya trial: Razak Baginda loses his cool

By CECIL FUNG

SHAH ALAM: Abdul Razak Baginda had a little outburst in court when he learned that the prosecution in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial wanted to seek a week's adjournment to prepare its submissions.

The incident happened just before the proceedings started Wednesday when lead prosecutor DPP Tun Abd Majid Tun Hamzah was seen uttering something to the political analyst's counsel Wong Kian Kheong.

At that time, Abdul Razak, his wife Mazlinda Makhzan, daughter Rowena and father Datuk Abdullah Malim Baginda were having a discussion with Wong.

As soon as DPP Tun Abd Majid had spoken to the lawyer, the political analyst appeared agitated and started raising his voice to the surprise of those in court.

Abdul Razak's family then tried to calm him down, with Mazlinda patting him on the shoulders.

She later went over to some reporters and apologised, presumably over her husband's outburst.

At the close of the proceedings, DPP Tun Abd Majid requested the court to adjourn the hearing for a week after C/Insp Azilah Hadri's counsel J. Kuldeep Kumar continues his submissions next Monday, Aug 18.

The prosecutor said this was to allow his team more time to prepare their replies to the many points raised by the defence.

Wong, however, asked if the prosecution could start its submissions on Wednesday (Aug 20) instead of the following Monday, Aug 25.

A clearly unhappy DPP Tun Abd Majid stood up again saying the prosecution had been very accommodating to the defence all this while.

"I don't want to be personal but let's be fair, his (Wong's) client is not the only one in the dock," he said.

Justice Mohd Zaki Md Yasin interjected to calm the situation and said he would make a decision later.

Earlier, Wong made further submissions for his client saying there was a gap in the prosecution's case.

He said this was because the prosecution had not explained a great number of other unidentified incoming and outgoing calls and SMSes to his client's two registered cell phone numbers during the 36 hours when he allegedly abetted the murder.

The lawyer pointed out that only the phone numbers belonging to C/Insp Azilah, Deputy Supt Musa Safri and private eye P. Balasubramaniam were singled out from all those phone transactions throughout the alleged period.

Wong also contended that the prosecution had failed to adduce any evidence to show that Abdul Razak was within the locality of Kuala Lumpur throughout that time, as alleged in the charge, apart from the testimony of his client's secretary.

He said the secretary, Siti Aisyah Mohd Azlan, only testified that her employer had met C/Insp Azilah in his office for about half an hour on the morning of Oct 18, 2006.

The hearing continues next Monday.

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