Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor have sought to strike out an injury and loss of income suit in excess of RM1 million filed by the family of the late private investigator P Balasubramaniam.

Besides this, the other seven defendants named in the suit - which includes two of Najib's siblings, lawyers Cecil Abraham and Sunil Abraham, and carpet dealer Deepak Jaikishian - have also sought to strike out the claim brought by Balasubramaniam’s widow, A Santamil Selvi, and her three children.

This was indicated by the family’s lawyer Americk Sidhu following case management in Kuala Lumpur today before High Court judge Hue Siew Kheng.

Justice Hue fixed Sept 26 for the hearing of another application filed by the defendants to disqualify Americk from representing the family, and also a stay application over the filing of their defence.

Americk told reporters that the defendants had sought to remove him as he had previously discharged himself from appearing for the family when the original suit went on appeal in the Federal Court.

However, the lawyer said, following Santamil's explanation that she was forced to read a press statement last year, Americk decided to represent her again in the Federal Court.

"So Justice Hue has fixed that the application to remove me and their stay application will be heard first," he said.

In her statement made in March last year, Santamil apologised to Najib and Rosmah for initiating the original suit.

It was reported last month that Santamil had again filed the suit on Najib, Rosmah and the others following what her family claimed as their wrongful exile after the late Balasubramaniam's revelations in two statutory declarations about Altantuya Shaaribuu.

Besides Najib, Rosmah, Cecil, Sunil and Deepak, the others named in Santamil's suit are Najib's younger brother Ahmad Johari and Nazim, commissioner for oaths Zainal Abidin Muhayat who affirmed the second statutory declaration, and lawyer M Arulampalam who held the second press conference with Balasubramaniam.

They are claiming for loss of income and injury following their exile from 2008 to early 2013. 

'We want their defence'

Americk told reporters that while the original suit did not go for trial after it was struck out, he hoped this time around the court would see that the defence has been filed, and it would not only hear the striking-out application.

“They claimed that there are no causes of action but you have to state all this in their defence and not in the striking-out application,” the lawyer said.

Present in the courtroom are lawyers appearing for the defendants, including Rishwant Singh for Cecil and Sunil, Sarah Abishegam for Deepak, and Nor Hazira Abu Hayan for Najib and Rosmah. Deepak was also present.

According to the family's statement of claim, Balasubramaniam publicly unveiled his statutory declaration on July 3, 2008, which contained damning allegations against Najib and his links with Altantuya.

Following this, the family claimed that Rosmah summoned Deepak to Sri Satria, the official residence of Najib who was the deputy prime minister then, for talks on the statutory declaration.

The family alleged that Deepak was instructed to convince Balasubramaniam to retract his first statutory declaration.

This was then allegedly conveyed to Balasubramaniam at a restaurant in Rawang. He was allegedly threatened and promised money if the retraction was made.

Balasubramaniam allegedly met Nazim later and that the latter told him that Deepak's instructions ought to be followed.

According to the family, Johari had sought Cecil's help to draft a second statutory declaration at the Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. The second statutory declaration was allegedly delivered by Sunil to Deepak at the Hilton Hotel Kuala Lumpur lobby and Deepak took the document to a room where Balasubramaniam was being held.

According to the family, Balasubramaniam was not allowed to read the second statutory declaration while Zainal Muhayat affirmed his signature on the document.

A press conference was held the next day, July 4, 2008, to present the second statutory declaration to the press. Balasubramaniam was present and represented by Arulampalam.

The family claimed that immediately after the press conference, Balasubramaniam was taken back to the Hilton Hotel, where he met his wife and family. Later that day, all of them boarded a van to Singapore.

Santamil and her children are seeking special and exemplary damages which include the loss of income suffered by her late husband and her losses from operating a kindergarten, rental on the apartment, schooling for their children, and not being able to pay the loan for their Rawang home.

They also claimed that their exile had resulted in pecuniary and non-pecuniary benefits for all nine.