A senior lawyer is one of two witnesses testifying today in the ongoing disciplinary proceedings against top lawyer Cecil Abraham for alleged misconduct in his role in drafting the contentious second statutory declaration (SD) of the late private investigator, P Balasubramaniam, in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case.
The hearing is being conducted by a three-member panel from the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board today, sources told Malaysiakini.
Today's hearing follows the postponement of the last hearing on Aug 23, after one of the panel members could not be present.
A mystery witness was scheduled to testify at the hearing on Aug 23 and that person was said to have initially been approached to draft the contentious second SD.
Senior lawyer Bastian Vendargon is representing the Bar Council in this proceeding. He replaces Lambert Rasaratnam, who had earlier represented the council.
It is understood the hearing against Cecil (left) is being carried out under Section 94 of the Legal Profession Act 1976, where the board has the power to strike a person off the roll or suspend the person for misconduct.
The proceeding is being conducted behind closed doors and everybody involved, including members of the Bar Council, are tight-lipped over the matter.
The complaint was filed by the council in April last year, following revelations that Cecil and his son Sunil had helped drafted the Balasubramaniam's second SD.
This came after Balasubramaniam's lawyer Americk Sidhu, who helped draft the private investigator's first SD, revealed at last year's Bar Council annual general meeting that the then deputy prime minister, Najib Abdul Razak, had instructed Cecil to draft the second SD.
'Najib had links with Altantuya'
In the first SD, Balasubramaniam states that Najib had links with the slain Mongolian translator, who was murdered by two police Special Action Unit personnel in 2006.
Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar were subsequently charged with Altantuya's murder and they were found guilty by the High Court in Shah Alam.
However, their conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal and the prosecution has appealed the acquittal of Azilah and Sirul in the Federal Court.
Cecil when asked about this allegation following earlier revelations of the matter by another lawyer, Haris Ibrahim, had refused to comment on it.
Carpet trader Deepak Jaikishan, who is said to be close to Najib's wife Rosmah Mansor, had in an interview also explained the role he played in Balasubramaniam retracting the first SD.
Deepak, is also slated to be a witness in the disciplinary inquiry against Cecil.
Since then, Balasubramaniam's widow has filed a suit against Najib, his two brothers, Rosmah, Cecil and Deepak over the family's exile to India for five years following the retraction of the first SD.
The defendants are seeking to strike out this suit.
It is learnt that the disciplinary hearing after this will resume on Oct 29, with Americk testifying.
-Malaysiakini-
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