Events surrounding Altantuya murder too incredible to ignore, says Al Jazeera journalist

Embattled Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has been forced to face an almost-decade old controversy when an Al Jazeera investigative documentary on murdered Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu exhumed alleged connections between Najib, the victim and the man who was convicted of the crime.

In the 25-minute long programme, journalist Mary Ann Jolley leads viewers through the once highly controversial and entangled Altantuya saga which was rife with elements of sex, financial scandal, violence and conspiracy.

Altantuya was murdered in October 2006 and the body was blown up with military-grade explosives. Investigations later revealed that the former translator was in an affair with Najib’s political adviser Abdul Razak Baginda.

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New Altantuya allegation a conspiracy against me, says Najib

Najib Razak’s alleged involvement with Altantuya Shaariibuu points to a “conspiracy” against him, the prime minister said following a new documentary by Al Jazeera on the Mongolian woman’s murder in 2006.

Speaking to delegates at the Pekan Umno division meeting today, Najib questioned the timing of the issue being raised again, when he was facing calls for his resignation over alleged financial scandals pertaining to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

“This issue was raised again these couple of days, but I have said before that I never met this woman, I had sworn on it in the mosque,” he said.

IGP can’t just dismiss Al Jazeera’s Altantuya report

An opposition MP has urged the police not to dismiss allegations raised in yesterday’s Al Jazeera report on the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder without any investigation into their veracity.

“The allegations revealed in Al Jazeera’s programme 101 East […] are indeed shocking.

“It is obvious that these allegations were not disclosed in the criminal proceedings pertaining to Altantuya’s murder, which culminated in the conviction of Sirul Umar Hadri and Azilah Hadri by the Federal Court earlier this year.

“It is certainly premature for inspector general of police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar to dismiss the said allegations of Sirul without even questioning him on this,” said Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh in a statement today.

Truth about Altantuya must be uncovered

The Federal Government has been urged to reopen investigations into the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case following new allegations about the Prime Minister Najib Razak in a dramatised documentary broadcast this week by Al Jazeera.

Charles Santiago, the MP for Klang, described the documentary as “explosive”, referring to an allegation raised in the film that convicted killer Sirul Azhar Umar had been blackmailing Najib to be paid off for his silence on Najib’s alleged involvement.

The prime minister has reiterated that he had never met Altantuya and denied any involvement in the case, in which a former associate, defence analyst Razak Baginda was charged together with two former police commandos. He was acquitted without his defence being called, and now lives in Britain.

Altantuya will always haunt Najib

The Altantuya Shaariibuu case will continue to hang over Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as long as there is no probe into the motive behind the Mongolian woman’s murder, said Lim Kit Siang.

The DAP parliamentary leader said that even though Altantuya’s murderers had already been sentenced to death, the case was unsolved because the mastermind and his motives remained a mystery.

“Najib must live with the reality that for the rest of his life, he will be haunted and hounded by the Altantunya Shaariibuu murder case so long as there is no full investigation to ferret out the motive and mastermind of the heinous killing,” Lim said in a statement today.

What’s happened to Putrajaya’s appeal, ask Mongolia and Altantuya’s dad

V. ANBALAGAN

Altantuya’s father Setev Shaariibuu wants a speedy end to the case involving his daughter’s brutal murder as he has a RM100 million suit against Abdul Razak Baginda, and the government and the two others accused. – The Malaysian Insider pic, November 6, 2013.Setev Shaariibuu, the father of murdered Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu, and the Mongolian government want to know what is happening to Putrajaya’s appeal against the acquittal of two former police commandos for killing her in 2006.

They noted that it has been more than two months since the acquittal of former chief inspector Azilah Hadri and corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, but there has only been silence from the Attorney General’s Chambers.

7 YRS ON, Altantuya’s bigwig killers stay elusive to the law but we all know who they are!

KP Chee

Despite a detailed confession of pre-meditated murder from Sirul Azhar bin Haji Umar (IC No: RF12559) recorded in Police Report No: 7380/06 on 9 November 2006 at 1635 hrs by Inspector Nom Phot a/l Prack Dit, the Court of Appeal on August 23rd this year decided to let both Sirul Azhar and his instigator Capt. Azilah Hadri walk free.

It has been established that Capt. Azilah Hadri was from the elite UTK (Special Operations Unit of the Royal Malaysian Police) and had served as personal bodyguard to then defence minister and deputy prime minister Najib Razak. He was summoned by Najib’s ADC and security chief, DSP Musa Safri, after Abdul Razak Baginda reported to his close friend and biggest client Najib Razak, that he was being harassed relentlessly by a very determined Mongolian woman demanding her share of a RM540 million kickback from a top secret French submarine deal.

Court: Sirul could have been framed for Altantuya murder

Hafiz Yatim

While the Court of Appeal last Friday detailed the non-calling of Najib Abdul Razak’s aide-de-camp DSP Musa Safri as a factor in acquitting the two Special Action Unit officers, the written judgment also states that the second accused, Sirul Azhar Umar, could have been framed.

Sirul Azhar in his testimony from the dock had described how he had been made “a scapegoat” by the police, to be sacrificed in order to protect their plans.

In the written judgment released today, Court of Appeal judge Tengku Maimum Tuan Mat described why it was unsafe to accept the evidence from the police officers who went to Sirul Azhar’s Kota Damansara home.

Righteousness and justice

 – Lim Mun Fah

The two alleged suspects of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu’s murder were acquitted after they had brought the case to the Court of Appeal.

The outcome immediately sparked a chorus of controversy. But Attorney General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail informed that the prosecution would appeal, that said, this 159-day trial, has not yet come to an end.

This trial has since aroused global attention. The reason is two-fold. Firstly, Altantuya the deceased is a Mongolian beauty with a legendary and murky identity.

She was reported to have come all the way from Mongolia to meet her lover in Malaysia but ended up murdered, and her remains destroyed with C-4 explosives. This amorous, exciting and atrocious plot of the narrative is arresting at its best to the stalking-oriented public.

To find Altantuya killers : no endless possibilities at all!

Nawawi Mohamad, Stan Lee

Although the Appeals Court judges did not give many details for their decision to acquit the Altantuya killers except to say that there had been serious misdirection by the lower court, there is little doubt the most glaring flaw was why did they fail to order a retrial, and instead so ‘kindly’ dished out an acquittal – which would mean the killers can never be charged again for the same crime?

This is why apart from the public outcry, there is a lot of unease in the legal fraternity. To almost everyone in the country, it is like the powers that be are trying to shield Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor.

And to add salt to the country’s wound, these ruthless ‘invisible hands’ are once again using the nation’s court system to get themselves and their cronies out of a sticky situation. It is beyond shocking, how could they?

No noose is good news

Dean Johns

Multitudes of Malaysians are currently expressing their outrage at the Court of Appeal’s overturning of the convictions of Special Action Unit officers Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar on the capital charge of murdering Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu.

But as sincerely as I sympathise with people’s burning desire for any sign whatever of just retribution for members, accomplices and agents of the criminal BN regime, I’m delighted to see it’s not getting away with hanging these two fall-guys.

Firstly because I’m dead against the death penalty on principle. Secondly because dead men both proverbially and literally tell no tales, and thus as long as these two Special Action Unit personnel are alive they’re a danger to whoever ordered them to take special action against Altantuya.

Altantuya changed everything

CT Ali

Why, you may ask, has this Razak Baginda-Altantuya affair not brought down Najib and caused the downfall of the Umno-led BN government?

Watergate resulted in the resignation of an American president and the indictment, trial, conviction and incarceration of a number of Nixon’s top administration officials. No sex, no corruption, no cronyism, no murder, no national security issues…just Nixon lying to the American people!

The Profumo Affair forced the resignation of Britain’s War Minister and ended 13 years of unbroken Conservative government rule. This was a tale of how the rich, famous and powerful indulged in sex, with suicide, intrigue and espionage thrown in for good measure.

Altantuya’s annihilation, a fabulous drama

Ravinder Singh

Who killed Cock Robin?
I, said the sparrow.
With my little bow and arrow,
I killed Cock Robin.

The little sparrow was obviously very honest and bold to admit it. But that was ages ago. Sorry if the younger, non-English medium school generation have not heard this.

“Who killed Altantuya?”  is the current question on the nation’s and the world’s lips.

Altantuya’s murder: Endless possibilities

Anisah Shukry

The cast of this murder mystery – including the prime minister himself – are not yet off the hook, pending appeals and a civil suit that promises more answers.

An exotic model murdered by explosives. A prime minister linked by the court of public opinion. A jilted lover living in exile. And a shady, multi-multibillion ringgit deal between two countries.

They sound like tropes Sydney Sheldon would dream up of  – the perfect ingredients for a cheesy mystery-cum-romance novel one could breeze through on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

But there is no ending for this mystery; on the contrary, the saga has taken on a new twist with the acquittal of Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar – two men who were originally convicted of her murder, but who now walk free.

Altantuya murder: Public inquiry needed

 Kua Kia Soong

There have been too many inconsistencies in the Altantuya case which warrant truthful answers.

Nothing short of a full public inquiry into the Altantuya murder and the motive for her murder will do.

The acquittal of the two former bodyguards of then defence minister Najib Tun Razak by the Appeal Court is the ultimate in the farce that has typified the Altantuya murder trial since 2006.

The prosecution of the case has been disgraceful from the start, with the failure to establish the motive for Altantuya’s murder the most questionable of all.

Cops face another big day in Altantuya murder, Friday

RITA JONG

The Court of Appeal on Friday will deliver its ruling on the appeal of two former police commandos who were convicted for the murder of Mongolian model and translator Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006.

Counsel Datuk Hazman Ahmad, who is representing former chief inspector Azilah Hadri, told The Malaysian Insider today that he was informed by the court of appeal registrar about the judgement date.

Azilah was jointly charged and convicted with Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar by the High Court in Shah Alam in 2009 for murdering Altantuya, 28, at a forest reserve in Shah Alam in October, 2006.

Both were then with the Bukit Aman Special Action Squad and were in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s security team. Najib was then the deputy prime minister and defence minister.

Scorpene probe ‘also tracking trio’s entry into France’

Susan Loone

French judges investigating alleged kickbacks in the sale of two Scorpene-class submarines to the Malaysian government by DCNS, a Paris-based shipmaker, are also probing the entry of three individuals into France since 1999, said a source.

The trio – Najib Abdul Razak, Abdul Razak Baginda and Altantuya Shaariibuu – were said to have visited France, but their entry and exit are not recorded in  immigration documents.

Jasbir Singh Chahl, a former broker, has since claimed that French records indicate that Altantuya had never entered France and that she was not involved in the deal.

Scorpene scandal, is Jasbir Singh Chahl credible?

Kua Kia Soong

The New Straits Times has never been the beacon of investigative journalism in Malaysia. Resurrecting Jasbir Singh Chahl to try to whitewash the Scorpene scandal is hardly a scoop – Jasbir’s churlish account fails to answer the many questions raised by the scandal and the murder of Altantuya.

SUARAM has all along stuck to the facts and this can be checked in our publication: “Questioning Arms Spending in Malaysia: From Altantuya to Zikorsky” by Kua Kia Soong, 2010. By no means does Jasbir disprove the chronology of events noted in the book nor shed any light on the revelations by the French enquiry thus far. But first, let us examine the credentials of this man touted as the “architect” of the Scorpene submarine deal, the most expensive arms purchase by our country to date, costing well over RM7 billion.

Scorpene broker: Altantuya never part of the deal

Mkini

The architect of the Scorpene deal, Jasbir Singh Chahl, says murdered Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu was never an interpreter for the submarine deal, nor was she ever involved in the contract.

In an interview published by New Straits Times today, Jasbir said whatever affair Altantuya had with defence analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, a central figure in the deal, was a personal matter.

“His dealings with her had nothing to do with the Scorpene deal. It’s unfortunate that it (the affair) coincided with our (submarine deal) timeline.

“Abdul Razak was the only common denominator in this. He was the only link, and a tenuous one, at best,” Jasbir is quoted as saying.

No Najib link to Altantuya’s murder ?

Hafiz Yatim

The prosecution in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder conviction appeal argued in court today that there was nothing to link then deputy prime minister Najib Abdul Razak to the death of the Mongolian woman.

This is because the first accused, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, had admitted in his defence testimony that “what he did was on his own”, deputy solicitor-general III Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah told the Court of Appeal.

Tun Abdul Majid (left), the number five in the Attorney-General’s Chambers, admitted that political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, who was acquitted of abetting in the murder, knew Najib.

Altantuya murder trial: DSP Musa should have testified

RITA JONG

The failure to call Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s aide-de-camp, Deputy Superintendent Musa Safri, constitutes a mistrial which led to the conviction of former police officers  Sirul Azhar Umar and Azilah Hadri in the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006.

Counsel Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin, who is representing Sirul, said this was because Musa was the only person who could shed light on the numerous phone transactions between himself and Abdul Razak Baginda. Razak Baginda was then the political analyst to Najib, who was then the deputy prime minister.

In his affidavit, Razak Baginda had said there were more than 30 phone calls and text messages to Musa on Oct 19, 2006, to stop his then lover, Altantuya, from harassing his family.

‘Trial judge did not address joint intention issue’

Hafiz Yatim

The Court of Appeal has noted that the Shah Alam High Court judge presiding over the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial did not address the issue of common intention for the two Special Action Unit personnel to murder her.

The matter was raised by judge Linton Albert today, who pointed out to deputy solicitor-general III Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah that Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar were jointly charged under Section 34 of the Penal Code with murdering Altantuya.

Justice Linton pointed out near the closing of today’s proceedings that High Court judge Mohd Zaki Md Yassin did not address this issue at all.

“There is nothing in (the High Court judgment) which addresses this issue,” he said.

Bukit Aman does not keep C4 explosives, says lawyer

Hafiz Yatim

A lawyer for Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri says the type of explosives used in the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu is not in the stock of federal police headquarters Bukit Aman.

Submitting on one of the grounds in Azilah’s appeal against conviction for the murder of Altantuya, lawyer Hazman Ahmad said questions therefore arose as to how Azilah had allegedly procured the C4 explosives.

“Azilah’s log record from Bukit Aman shows that he was only issued with a Glock pistol and magazines. Hence, there is a question as to how this type of explosive was allegedly used.

Altantuya chapter closed with Bala’s death?

Jeswan Kaur

Does PI Bala’s untimely death also put an end to the battle for truth to be revealed? Does his passing close the Altantuya murder ghastly chapter for Najib and Rosmah?

The country’s sixth prime minister has blood on his hands; yet Najib Tun Razak did not even once consider the aftermath of his actions and continues to rape the laws of this nation.

From allegations that he was involved in the murder of Mongolian native Altantuya Shaariibuu to the  startling revelation by seasoned lawyer Cecil Abraham (through another lawyer) that Najib had directed him to prepare another version of the statutory declaration that absolved the premier from having anything to do with Altantuya, the prime minister has to reconcile with the fact that the rakyat no longer wants a scheming leader to lead the country.

Najib must step down; he cannot function as PM any longer!

Aliran

Years of speculation as to who drafted private investigator P Balasubramaniam’s second statutory declaration dramatically came to a close on 16 March 2013 at the Bar Council’s 67th annuel general meeting when Bala’s lawyer, Americk Sidhu, revealed the identity of the person.

Najib must step down pending a probe

Years of speculation as to who drafted private investigator P Balasubramaniam’s second statutory declaration dramatically came to a close on 16 March 2013 at the Bar Council’s 67th annuel general meeting when Bala’s lawyer, Americk Sidhu, revealed the identity of the person.

Altantuya, C4 & the Immigration: Who gave the order & deleted the records?

J. D. Lovrenciear

The savage murder of the late Altantuya continues to haunt Malaysians’ imagination, logic and emotions all across the nation.

It is a ‘blockbuster story’ that permeates every nook and corner of cities and villages. Just utter the word ‘Mongolia’ and everybody gets the drift.

It certainly continues to puzzle many across our borders, and surely the Mongolians are not exhausted of wondering too.

Back in our own yard, the Altantuya episode continues to plague and haunt the political terrains on both sides of the divide – the BN and Opposition parties, as the politicians and their die-hard fans fight it out over the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ of the episode.

PI Bala: I swear first SD was the truth

Leven Woon

The first statutory declaration linked Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shariibuu.

SEPANG Former private investigator P Balasubramaniam returned to Malaysia today and immediately declared that the first statutory declaration (SD) he made in 2008 on the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shariibuu was the truth.

Holding up a Hindu holy book Bhagavad Gita, he swore that the allegation linking Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to the murder contained in the first SD was a fact.

Explosive claims linking Najib to Altantuya

Soon Li Tsin

He revealed that Najib had also informed his close associate Abdul Razak Baginda that inspector-general of police Musa Hassan would ‘take care’ of the murder case which implicated Abdul Razak.Private investigator P Balasubramaniam has made shocking claims that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had links with murdered Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.

He further revealed that his evidence linking Najib to the murdered Mongolian was removed by the police and prosecutors during the murder trial – a move seen to protect the DPM.

Explosive Altantuya Revelations Coming?

John Berthelsen，Asia Sentinel

Retired Malaysian police chief schedules mysterious Bangkok press conference Monday to announce “new revelations” in murder for hire case

The Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand announced Saturday that Musa Hassan, who retired recently as Malaysia’s national police chief, would hold a Monday press conference in Bangkok with “new revelations” over the 2006 murder for hire of Mongolian beauty Altantuya Shaariibuu.

“After her death it was revealed that she had been linked to the sale of two French-made submarines to Malaysia for US$1.3 billion – a deal under heavy suspicion of high-level corruption,” the FCCT announcement said. “The current Malaysian PM, Najib Razak, was then Minister of Defense and the national police chief was Musa Hassan. The revelations shook the Malaysian political landscape.”

Who wins GE13 depends on who pleases the Rakyat, not astrology or numerology

Straight Talker

As we draw closer to our 13th General Election day – a date that is still in wraps of sorts shamefully, many fortune tellers and astrologers (as reported in The Star newspaper, 4 September 2012) are pinning BN’s victory on the dates and planets.

Indeed editors need to be told that this piece of ‘news’ is very Fourth-World indeed for a nation pretending to achieve First-World status in seven years time.

Let us get real for once, can we. Here is a MUST DO list that will qualify a political party to emerge victorious. This list is not BN motivated or colored by Opposition agenda. Politicians must have the honesty, courage and integrity to recognize that it is the rakyat’s (people’s) wish-list.

WHO KILLED ALTANTUYA: Until there are answers, ‘Janji Detepati’ remains hollow

Soul of Justice

How many more agonizing years do we and the world have to wait to find out the following:

1. Who gave the order to ensure that all immigration records of the late Altantuya’s entry and egress records were wiped out from the system?

2. Who gave the green light for the controlled explosive C4 to leave the guarded and vaulted premise?

3. Who authorized the use of military grade C4 to be used on the shot and dead lone woman?

4. Why did the current PM send text messages to his business buddy Baginda Razak of his assurance to assist and what assistance did he give?

Photos show that Altantuya was in France

Susan Loone

A report on the French police investigations was carried by online news portal Free Malaysia Today

 (FMT) in an article headlined ‘French probe: Altantuya never entered France’.While French police investigations have revealed that Altantuya Shaariibuu never entered France from 1999 to 2006, there are photographs of her taken in Paris published several years ago, that indicate otherwise.

The report published yesterday was based on confidential investigative documents submitted to the French judicial inquiry that is looking into alleged kickbacks paid out in the 2002 Scorpene submarine deal between French firm DCNS and the Malaysian government.

Najib, Altantuya and submarine

Zaidel Baharuddin

Many versions have come out about the murdered Mongolian lady and the link to the submarine deal, and many more may be in the pipeline.

Finally, I have decided to touch on a topic that would make the average FMT reader filled with glee upon reading the trifecta of conspiracies penned on the title.

Ever since 2008 there were various versions running around in regard to the death of this particularly attractive Mongolian lady. They ranged from the infamous Raja Petra Kamarudin who was once hailed as a hero, a beacon of democracy and the tower of freedom to the latest version from Suaram.

First French submarines, now Australian banknotes

Dean Johns

 BN’s politicians and cronies have been on a national and international corruption spree for decades.

So it’s nice to see signs that, despite current Prime Minister Najib Razak’s expensive efforts to portray himself and his accomplices as worthy world citizens, the international community is finally waking up to BN’s monstrous misgovernment of Malaysia.

The first ray of hope came from France, where an investigation has begun into the payment of illegal kickbacks to close associates of Najib, if not the man himself, on the sale to Malaysia by a French arms company of two Scorpene submarines.

Ignored truths in Altantuya murder: To prove innocence, Najib must order full probe

J. D. Lovrenciear

After all these years of waiting for the satisfactory resolve of the brutal murder of the Mongolian citizen in Malaysia, the justice panned out by the Malaysian court is still not accepted by the public. Both Malaysians and concerned citizens the world over have expressed shock at the verdict.

Leaving aside all jurisprudence for a moment, let us just take a look at what the public has been questioning all these while and yet only getting a deafening silence from the institutions and authorities – including the nation’s leadership.

The most prized questions are:

Rosmah’s Deepak brings the taint of Altantuya into Malaysia’s corporate world

Wong Choon Mei

Deepak Jaikishan, who shot to fame following the statutory declarations made by a private investigator implicating Prime Minister Najib Razak in the Altantuya Shaaribuu murder, is now making waves of a different sort and in perhaps the most cynical of places – Malaysia’s corporate world, where critics often deplore, business is intertwined with politics.

Deepak, also known as First Lady Rosmah Mansor’s ‘carpet man’ because his family runs a rug shop along the bustling Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman road, has emerged as a substantial shareholder in Envair Holdings Bhd, a loss-making producer of air and water filters slated to be transformed into an oil-and-gas company. The stock is listed on the Mesdaq Board for small and mostly tech shares.

“This is a major change for him. Even though Envair is a small firm, it is still a bigger and different environment compared to his carpet business which was mostly retail-based. It shows how powerful connections are and sometimes it is who you know rather than what you know that makes the difference,” a research analyst at a large brokerage told Malaysia Chronicle.