PUTRAJAYA: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak’s principal lawyer, Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah (pix), claimed that former police officer Azilah Hadri had been brought out from death row at the Kajang Prison in February this year to meet with a VVIP.
He claimed that he had “very reliable information” that Azilah had met a “VVIP”, among other individuals, outside the Sungai Buloh prison since February.
“I would not say who that person was or whether the person is a politician,” he said after attending Azilah’s murder case review application at the Federal Court registrar today.
He also claimed that this meeting, if true, was a total breach of prison protocol as the meeting took place outside the prison.
Shafee then pointed out that several people including agents of the Malaysian government had also gone to Australia to meet former police special action force (UTK) personnel Sirul Azhar Umar, under immigration detention there, to persuade him to come up with a statement against Najib.
“In terms of Sirul, I know some Malaysian agents, including an Australian reporter who had been engaged by some people, have been visiting Sirul, persuading him to come up with a statement, almost coordinated with Azilah’s.
“This has been going on this year. And I know that the last few times these people visited Azilah was in the last quarter of this year.
“This is a mala fide act to create a sensation around my client,“ said Shafee.
Najib is seeking to intervene in Azilah’s review of his murder conviction. The former Special Action Unit (UTK) commando had also filed a statutory declaration (SD) for the review application.
News portal Malaysiakini yesterday reported about the SD, which claimed that Najib had ordered Azilah and Sirul, another member of the UTK, to kill Altantuya.
The details were among the applications filed by Azilah to the Federal Court to review the guilty verdict and the death sentence passed on him.
