ALTANTUYA'S FATHER SEEKS JUDICAL REVIEW OF PROSECUTOR'S DECISION

SHAH ALAM (Malaysia), Dec 24 (Bernama) -- Shaarribuu Setev, the father of
Mongolian Altantuya Shaarriibuu who was murdered two years ago, is seeking a
judicial review of the Public Prosecutor's decision not to appeal against the
acquittal of political analyst Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda.

The application was filed at the High Court here through lawyer Karpal Singh
at about 12pm Wednesday.

Named as respondents were the Attorney General who is also the Public
Prosecutor, and Razak who was acquitted by Justice Mohd Zaki Md Yassin on
Oct 31 of abetment in the woman's murder.

Karpal told reporters at the court lobby that the applicant also sought a
mandamus order to compel the Attorney General to apply for an extension of time
to appeal against Razak's aquittal and thereafter to apply to the Court of
Appeal for a warrant directing Razak to be arrested and brought before the court
for him to be remanded pending the disposal of the appeal or released on bail.

He said that following judge Zaki's decision to acquit Razak without calling
him to enter defence, the Attorney General had 14 days to file an appeal and the
time had expired on Nov 14.

He said Deputy Public Prosecutor Tun Majid Tun Hamzah had also stated that
the prosecution was not appealing.

"The first respondent (Attorney General) was constitutionally bound, having
regard to the facts and circumstances and the evidence led by the prosecution,
to have exercised his discretion lawfully and it falls upon the Honourable Court
to invoke its jurisdiction and power to grant leave to the applicant to apply
for an order of certiorari to quash the decision of the first respondent in
declining to act under Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution to appeal
against the decision of Justice Mohd Zaki Mohd Yassin in acquitting the second
respondent (Razak) without calling for his defence," Karpal said.

"It is a very significant application because we are questioning the
discretion of the Attorney General; we are saying that the discretion of the
Attorney General under the Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution to
institute a prosiding in the nature of even filing an appeal is not absolute.

"In other words, he must act fairly and not arbitrarily," he said.

He said that after the amendment of the Constitution in 1993, even the King
and the Rulers were subjected to the law. "I can't see the Attorney General
being exempted from the law by way of acting as he pleases without anyone to
question the manner in which he exercises his discretion," he added.
He said he would asked for an early date for the application to be heard.

-- BERNAMA