SHAH ALAM: Abdul Razak Baginda was close to losing his temper in court yesterday, after his counsel whispered something to him before proceedings.

The incident occurred when Abdul Razak, who seemed troubled, was seen talking to his wife, Mazlinda, and daughter, Rowena, while in the dock.

Deputy public prosecutor Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah stopped at the dock and spoke to Abdul Razak and his counsel Wong Kian Kheong.

Immediately after that, Abdul Razak became agitated and then raised his voice, causing his family members to calm him down.

Mazlinda, who was seen patting Abdul Razak's shoulders to get him to settle down, then approached a reporter and apologised to her, referring to her husband's outburst.
Wong, when contacted later, refused to comment on the incident.

Meanwhile, when proceedings began at 9.45am, Wong submitted that the prosecution had failed to give evidence on a large number of outgoing and incoming calls as well as SMSes to prove the charge of abetting at the time of the offence.

Razak, 47, a political analyst, is charged with abetting Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 32, and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 36, in the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu at Mukim Bukit Raja, Selangor, between 10pm on Oct 19 and 1am the next day.

Wong said as the prosecution only identified the phone numbers as that of of senior police officer DSP Musa Safri, private eye P. Balasubramaniam and Azilah, it did not prove the charge against his client.

Wong also submitted that except for secretary Siti Aisyah Mohd Azlan, who testified that Abdul Razak was in his office in Jalan Ampang where he met with Azilah for half an hour, there was no other evidence presented by the prosecution to establish that his client was in Kuala Lumpur at the time of the murder.

At the end of the half-day proceeding, Tun Majid requested that the court adjourn submissions for a week, after counsel J. Kuldeep Kumar continues next Monday for his team to prepare their submissions in detail.

Wong then asked that they continue next Wednesday instead of the following Monday, to which Tun Majid replied: "We have to be fair. The counsel's client is not the only one in the dock."

Judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin set proceedings for Monday.