WITH the latest salvo emanated from a convicted felon, Sirul Azhar Umar, in his latest interview in Al-Jazeera’s 101 East programme, it seems that Malaysia will be tormented by the spectre of Altantuya for good.
Though Sirul chose not to divulge the alleged mastermind of Altantuya’s murder, he, nonetheless, dropped a devastating bombshell by revealing to Al-Jazeera that there are still ongoing efforts to influence him in order to protect Najib.
Sirul also exposed this hearsay statement, i.e. Azilah had told him that they were carrying out a “special operation” for Najib.
As expected, such a damning revelation by Sirul has solicited a slew of reactions.
Najib’s lawyer, Shafee & Co, promptly reacted by issuing statements that their client Najib has been conclusively exonerated of any involvement in Altantuya’s case.
The lawyer also claimed that such an exoneration has been affirmed by relevant authorities, including investigations restarted post-2018 general election (GE14) and a reaffirmation by the high court, Court of Appeal, and ultimately by way of a substantive appeal in the Federal Court.
Here is some additional information: in December 2019, Najib also took an oath at a mosque on Friday denying allegations he ordered the 2006 murder of a Mongolian model.
Apparently, the oath taking ceremony is one of the popular methods in Malaysian politics for politicians to seek to clear their names.
We have no idea of the alleged involvement of Najib in such a gruesome murder, thus we are not keen to speculate.
What we know is that the late Altantuya was in a romantic relationship with Abdul Razak Baginda, a politically connected defence analyst and an adviser to Najib when he was a defence minister.
Furthermore, it has been in public knowledge that in 2002, Razak brokered a US$1.1 billion deal for the Malaysian Defence Ministry to buy two French Scorpene-class submarines and Altantuya allegedly demanded US$500,000 to stay quiet about the alleged corruption in the deal – thus fuelling speculation that this is why she was grotesquely ” exterminated”.
To be fair to Sirul, apparently he was not alone in implicating Najib in Altantuya’s murder. Media also reported that on December 16, 2018, another convicted felon of Altantuya’s murder, namely Azilah Hadri, also categorically affirmed in his statutory declaration (SD) – in his bid for a retrial – in which he explicitly implicated Najib in the heinous crime.
It is not clear why Najib has not instructed his lawyer to file a libel suit against either Azilah for such a damning confession in the statutory declaration or Sirul for his latest revelation in Al-Jazeera assuming such information are proven to be defamatory.
I guess Najib must be extremely concerned about salvaging and honouring his integrity and credibility. Be that as it may, if Najib is serious about protecting his credentials, suing Azilah and Sirul may be one of the best routes in accomplishing that.
The Royal Malaysia Police also reacted to Sirul’s latest closure. It regarded the statement by Sirul – a former commando – in the interview regarding his conviction in the murder of Altantuya as unfounded and could create more speculation.
Perhaps the police and Najib’s lawyer are right. Sirul was already found guilty by our judicial system. Hence his purported exoneration via media is not legally proper. But, is Sirul alone in resorting to such a tactic?
When Sirul admitted to taking money for his silence, it would be logical for this convicted murderer not to raise much “new information” during his previous trial.
After all, he is fully aware of what happened to Altantuya when she refused to be silenced. – November 27, 2023
Mohamed Hanipa Maidin is a former deputy law minister in Malaysia as well as a former MP. He was also a practising lawyer for almost 25 years.