The Malaysian Insight

THE prosecution in the trial of two foreign women accused of the murdering Kim Jong-nam has admitted to being the underdog as questions about the victim’s missing blazer from the evidence exhibits went unanswered.

“We have an uphill battle in this case. We are the underdogs,” deputy public prosecutor Wan Sahaharuddin Wan Ladin told reporters today, after the sixth day of the trial in Shah Alam.

Chemistry Department chemical analysis laboratory head Dr Raja Subramaniam was questioned for the second day by the defence counsels of accused Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong and Indonesian Siti Aisyah. 

Gooi Soon Seng, representing Siti Aisyah, this morning raised questions about Jong-nam’s missing blazer, which reportedly contained large concentrations of VX nerve agent.

“All their theories about VX are very good. I compliment them,” Saharuddin said.

In February, sources told The Malaysian Insight that all the clothes belonging to Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, had been returned, along with the body, to Pyongyang.

Jong-nam’s body was sent to North Korea in exchange for the release of Malaysians trapped in the country following the tense relations between both countries over the murder.

Asked to explain why Jong-nam’s blazer was missing from the court’s exhibits of evidence, Sahaharuddin replied: “In a murder case, do we bring the body inside the court? Have I answered your question already?

“They have the upper hand. We wait and see. We have our own strategy. So let’s wait. Thank you,” Sahaharuddin said.  

Asked if he was confident if the tide would turn in favour of the prosecution, he replied: “Definitely.” 

Gooi said after this morning’s session that the defence team had questioned Raja as to why the sample which he cut from Jong-nam’s clothes were destroyed after analysis. 

“According to him, it was one of the procedures that OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) adopted. We think that’s questionable. Why are exhibits not preserved for verification in court?”

Gooi said he had explained in court that when sarin was used in the Syrian Civil War earlier this year, samples were sent to four separate labs by OPCW for  verification.  

“Now, in that case, OPCW took the trouble to send samples to four accredited labs in four different countries. And their reason for doing so was because this is to ensure impartiality. Which means it would not only be one lab that said it was sarin. 

“There were four labs from four different countries giving the same results. But in our case, there was only one lab. And the exhibit has since been destroyed.” 

Gooi said the issue of Jong-nam’s missing blazer was revisited by the defence. 

“The chemist (Raja) gave the evidence to the fact that the blazer was returned to North Korea. We will find out from him later on why that particular item was returned back to North Korea and under whose instructions. That will come out later on.” 

“He (testified that he) was told by the investigating officer to return the (article of clothing) to the investigating officer. And he was informed by the investigating officer that this item has to be returned to (North) Korea. We’ve only reached this stage. We are going further.”

Asked if Raja carried out tests on the blazer, Gooi replied: “He did the tests before he released the blazer. But the blazer now has gone back to (North) Korea and samples have been destroyed. So, we have nothing now. 

“This also happened to the bag he (Jong-Nam) was carrying,” he said, adding that degraded precursors for the VX nerve agent were also found in the bag. 

Gooi said Raja did not carry out onsite detection in the house of Ri Jong Chol, a North Korean chemist who is a suspect in the case but was released and deported in March because of insufficient evidence. 

Two items that were seized from Ri’s home tested negative. Raja also did not conduct tests on the airport clinic and at the airport location where Jong-nam was first attacked. 

“Whether the house was a clandestine lab or otherwise we do not know what else was in the house. No photographs were taken of the house and statements were taken from the scientist (Ri).” 

“We have no access to those statements. He (Ri) was allowed to go back to North Korea. We have no access to him.” 

Meanwhile, Gooi said Raja acknowledged in this morning’s cross-examination that the degraded products of VX, called ethyl-methyl-phosphonic-acid (empa), can also be attributed to another compound called ethyl-sarin, which also degrades into empa.

“As to why we moved towards that direction we will submit it at the end of the day,” Gooi said. – October 10, 2017.