The Federal Court has fixed Feb 26 next year to hear the motion for leave to appeal by the family of late private investigator P Balasubramaniam for former premier Najib Abdul Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor and six others be included in their suit for causing injury following their exile in relation to the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder.

Americk Sidhu, the lawyer for A Santamil Selvi (above) and her three children, confirmed the date with Malaysiakini when contacted today after case management with the apex court's deputy registrar Noor Haslinda Che Seman.

The appeal follows the Court of Appeal's decision in July to allow the striking out of Santamil's suit by Najib, Rosmah, two of Najib's siblings Ahmad Johari and Nazim, lawyers Cecil Abraham, Sunil Abraham and M Arulampalam and commissioner of oaths Zainal Abidin Muhayat

Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who led the three-member Court of Appeal bench ruled that the suit filed by Santamil in August last year was “time-barred”.

“Time-barred” in civil suits means that a person is barred from filing a claim or lawsuit as the time limit to do so has been exceeded.

In this case, Justice Tengku Maimun said it had been more than the permitted six years since the family’s purported exile to India or more precisely, July 4, 2008, when her late husband made his second statutory declaration regarding Shaariibuu’s murder.

The other judges who sat with Justice Tengku Maimun, namely Justice Suraya Othman and Justice Stephen Chung, also ruled that as Santamil had named the same defendants as those in her first suit for conspiracy, it was an abuse of the court process.

Appeals exhausted

It was also reported that the eighth defendant, Deepak Jaikishian, had on July 30 indicated that following the Court of Appeal ruling, he intended to file third-party claims for indemnity or contribution against Najib, Rosmah and the six others.

Balasubramaniam died in March 2013 of a heart attack after returning to Malaysia from India.

Santamil and her children filed their first suit in 2014 against Najib, Rosmah and the six for allegedly committing a conspiracy that forced their family to be exiled in India for five years.

The first suit was never heard on its merits as it was struck out on the grounds of locus standi (legal standing) and the family has since exhausted the appeals process.

Santamil and her family then filed the second suit on Aug 1 last year, claiming injury and loss of income.