Altantuya trial bombshell

"Interference by third parties in my defence preparation and trial has put me in the position not being able to carry out my duty to defend my client to the best of my ability"

This is what Zulkifli Noordin, just-ex-defense lawyer for chief inspector Azilah Hadri, one of the accused in the murder of Altantuya Shariibuu, said to withdraw himself from representing his just-ex-client. He even added that the interference from third parties (whom he refused to reveal the names) went as far as attempting to interfere with the proposed defence of his client for the purpose of "protecting and for the benefit of certain parties". With so many sudden changes in such a high profile murder case, from the change of judge to the change of trial date to the change of lawyers and now change of prosecutors (which in turned caused a 2 weeks delay to the trial), one just cannot blame Malaysians from wagging their tongues furiously. Zulkifli, who was refused the opportunity to read his statement in the court by the judge, in fact made the situation even muddier with his allegations of interference. One can only speculate on the persons and level of interference (which I assume would not be too uncommon even in much lesser cases), but such a statement can only serve to feed further Malaysians' appetite for conspiracy theories.

Anyway, this delay has caused much frustration and shock among the defense lawyers, not to mention Altantuya's father and her 2 cousins who came here for an 8-day trip paid for by taxpayers. If not for anything else, such a series of turn of events is a blatant waste on taxpayers' money which could be better spent fixing the cracks and leakages in the newly opened Jalan Duta court complex.