A three member Federal Court bench chaired by Rohana Yusuf today dismissed A Santamil Selvi’s leave application to reinstate her suit that was struck out two years ago.
Rohana, who sat with Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal and Rhodzariah Bujang, said the four legal questions posed for approval before the appeal to be heard had no merit.
The bench, however, did not order Santamil to pay costs to the eight respondents.
This hearing was conducted virtually (via video conferencing) due to the imposition of the conditional movement control order due to the Covid-19 pandemic in Selangor and the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.
On July 25, 2018, the Court of Appeal allowed appeals against her suit by Najib, Rosmah, Najib’s brothers Mohd Nazim and Johari, lawyers Sunil Abraham, Cecil Abraham, Arulampalam Mariampillai, commissioner of oaths Zainal Abidin Muhayat and businessman Deepak Jaikishan.
The court then, had said Santamil should have filed her lawsuit within six years from July 4, 2008.
That limitation period expired in July 2014.
The present Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who then led a three member bench, said it was also an abuse of process by Santamil to refile the suit in 2017.
The High Court had earlier refused to strike out Santamil’s suit as the cause of action was different from the first one.
In 2017 Santamil and her then two minor children filed another suit against the same individuals she named in her previous suit, alleging they suffered intentional harm as a result of their exile in India.
She said these people had deprived her family of a normal life and had caused them to suffer financial and non-financial losses.
Balasubramaniam was previously embroiled in a controversy over his two conflicting statutory declarations in the high-profile 2006 murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.
The former private investigator and key witness in the Altantuya trial died of a heart attack on March 15, 2013, weeks after returning from India.
He had worked for political analyst and Najib’s associate Abdul Razak Baginda, who had hired him to monitor Altantuya before her disappearance.