The Malaysian Insight

POLICE can reopen the investigation into Altantuya Shaariibuu’s murder and call up individuals named in a statutory declaration (SD) by former commando Azilah Hadri, said lawyers today.

In an explosive sworn statement dated October 17, death row inmate Azilah said he was ordered by Najib Razak to kill the 28-year-old Mongolian interpreter.

Also instrumental in ordering Altantuya’s death was then senior police officer Musa Safri, who was Najib’s aide-de-camp, according to the SD.

Azilah said Najib’s close associate, Abdul Razak Baginda, repeated the instruction to kill Altantuya, and confirmed with him that the order came from the then deputy prime minister.

Razak, who was initially charged with abetting the murder, was later acquitted.

“Police should retake Azilah’s statement officially,” said criminal lawyer Rajsurian Pillai.

“They can reopen the investigation from there, because there is no time limit for the prosecution to file charges against the defendants.

“They can investigate and charge today over what happened many years ago, and they can reopen investigations as new information comes to light.

“Police can go after the new names. Whether they want to go after Najib and charge him, that’s also possible.

“However, I don’t think it’s possible for a retrial (for Azilah). They are seeking a Federal Court review of its decision.”

Azilah and fellow commando Sirul Azhar Umar were convicted of murdering Altantuya in 2006. They were sentenced to death by the apex court in 2015.

A year prior to his conviction, Sirul fled to Australia. He has been held at a Sydney detention centre since.

The Court of Appeal previously overturned the duo’s high court conviction for murder.

In an affidavit filed with the SD, Azilah said evidence and material facts were suppressed during the trial at the high court and Court of Appeal.

DAP lawmaker Lim Lip Eng called for a fresh probe not just into Musa, who was not called to testify in the murder trial, but also Najib.

He also wants investigations into the actions of then attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, police and the judges who heard the case.

“This warrants an investigation and possibly a royal commission of inquiry,” he said, adding that the motive behind the killing was never fully established.

He said the prosecution never appealed against Razak’s acquittal.

On Azilah’s bid for a review of the Federal Court’s 2014 decision to convict him of murder, constitutional lawyer Lim Wei Jiet said: “The standard for a review is very high and will be entertained only in exceptional circumstances.

“For example, when there is a coram failure in the composition of the Federal Court, or there is clear evidence of bias from one or more of the judges. The categories for review are never closed, of course.

“But based on this SD alone, I am of the humble view that the Federal Court will unlikely review its own decision in the case of Azilah.

“This is because such evidence was available for Azilah to produce at the time of the trial, but he did not do so.

“There is also the question of the long delay in producing the SD. It does not appear that the SD falls under the exceptional circumstances that a review demands.”

Azilah will likely head to the gallows whatever the legal outcomes linked to the SD, he said.

“Even if the contents of the SD are true, Azilah still committed murder. Whether you killed a person on your own volition or upon the orders of another, it is still murder.

“From my perspective, I do not see how the SD would be enough to set aside the conviction.” – December 16, 2019.