In a manner described as "unprecedented", an alleged letter sent by senior lawyer Cecil Abraham to the Court of Appeal president Justice Md Raus Sharif on Oct 5 has resulted in the appeal of widow A Santamil Selvi's suit against Deepak Jaikishian to be heard again at the Court of Appeal.

Abraham, who was previously a party in the RM1.9 million suit filed by Santamil and her three children, had along with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, his wife Rosmah Mansor and six others, managed to strike out the suit at the High Court and the decision was upheld at the Court of Appeal on April 24, this year.

Santamil ( photo ) is the widow to private investigator P Balasubramaniam, a witness in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder, who made a statutory declaration seven years ago, to say Najib knew the deceased Mongolian and allegedly had an affair with her.

However, as Deepak did not enter an appearance in Santamil's appeal, the Court of Appeal sat on Oct 2 where the carpet businessman Deepak, who was not represented, conceded in allowing the suit and agreed to the terms made by the party.

This in turn resulted in Santamil's suit be reinstated against Deepak and it was fixed for case management on Oct 23 at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Three days after the Court of Appeal's decision, Abraham sent a letter to Justice Raus and the three judges who presided on Santamil's appeal, wherein he stated that the appeal was not done in a proper manner, on the grounds that a consent judgment cannot be recorded between Santamil and Deepak ( photo ) at the Court of Appeal.

The letter, sighted by Malaysiakini , was sent despite the fact that Abraham was no longer a party in the suit as he had successfully got it struck out.

The senior lawyer cited his duty as an officer of the court (lawyer) for writing the letter to Justice Raus and the three Court of Appeal judges.

Following this, the Court of Appeal had a case management heard on Oct 15 and fixed this Friday to rehear the case before the same judges led by Justice Vernon Ong, together with Justices Abdul Rahman Sebli and Zamani A Rahim.

In another surprising turn of events, Deepak also appointed a lawyer and filed a notice of motion yesterday, wanting the consent order recorded on Oct 2 to be set aside.

In Deepak's affidavit in support, he cited that he was surprised by the Court of Appeal's decision which ordered the matter to go on trial at the High Court.

Involved in late Bala's second SD

Besides Abraham ( photo ), Najib, Rosmah and Deepak, the others named in the original suit were Najib's younger brothers Johari and Nazim, along with Cecil's son, Sunil Abraham, lawyer M Arunampalam and Commissioner of Oaths Zainal Abidin Muhayat.

Santamil and her three children filed the suit for RM1.9 million in damages against the nine individuals in 2014, on grounds that her family had been forced into exile in India for nearly five years.

"The plaintiffs are claiming loss and damage occasioned as a result of being forcibly removed from Malaysia against their respective wills on July 4, 2008, allegedly arranged by threat and/or inducement, and perpetrated, by the defendants.

“The defendants are alleged to have conspired with each other in ensuring the plaintiffs and the late PI Bala (private investigator Balasubramaniam) were evacuated from this country and made to reside in Chennai, India, for almost five years," the statement of claim stated.

Santamil's lawyer Americk Sidhu ( photo ) said it is unprecedented for a party who has nothing to do with the appeal to write a letter to the judges and the Court of Appeal president.

“What is even more bizarre, the Court of Appeal president (Justice Raus) fixes hearing before the same judges on the contents of Abraham's letter before any application was filed by the respondent (Deepak).

“This does not happen anywhere in the civilised world, as it means anyone reading the newspapers about a court decision can write a letter to the judges saying their decision is wrong,” he told Malaysiakini .

Abraham is no stranger to controversy as he and his son allegedly helped draft the second statutory declaration by the late Balasubramaniam, and both of them are subject to an ongoing inquiry before the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board.

Malaysiakini has sent an e-mail to Abraham's law firm for comments on the alleged letter.