Altantuya murder returns: Mar 9 case management for Azilah, lawyer complains of delay

One of two former bodyguards to Prime Minister Najib Razak has been delayed in filing his petition of appeal against a death sentence handed down on him by the Shah Alam High Court for the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

According to the lawyer for Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, he has received only 40 volumes out of 57 of court documents he needs to prepare the petition.

In turn, this has delayed the appeal hearing, which is bound to attract massive media attention and rake up negative publicity for Najib, who has been accused of being involved in the case, although he has strenuously denied any connection.

March 9 case management

On Friday, the Court of Appeal deputy registrar Kanageswari Nalliah finally agreed to fix March 9 as the next case management date to enable Azilah's lawyer, J Kuldeep Kumar, to obtain a complete set of record.

Azilah, 34, and his colleague Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 39, were sentenced to death on April 9, 2009, after the judge found them guilty of killing Altantuya at a jungle clearing in Mukim Bukit Raja between 9.45pm on Oct 18, 2006, and 9.45pm the next day. Their trial went on for 159 days, and both men are still on death row.

However, throughout the controversial trial, which the US embassy said it found lacking in justice according to a recent WikiLeaks disclosure, there was intense speculation that the men were just hired assassins.

Firstly, they had no motive of their own to kill her and secondly, they had admitted they were asked by Najib's aide-de-camp, Safri Musa, to help his close friend Razak Baginda out of a tricky situation.

In Sirul's statement, some news reports even said he admitted he was paid RM100,000 to kill Altantuya but the trial judge refused to allow defense lawyers to cross-examine the men on this aspect or even to touch on the issue of motive for the murder.

Murder linked to the Scorpenes purchase

Obviously, the case has been negative for the reputation of Malayisa's notorious judiciary and also for Najib himself. He has been accused of having been Altantuya's lover before passing her onto Baginda. The three of them were allegedly involved in sealing Malaysia's purchase of two Scorpene submarines costing an exorbitant RM7 billion from French naval giant DCN in 2002.

Najib was then the Defense minister in charge of the procurement, Baginda was his chief negotiator while Altantuya, who can speak 4 languages including Russian, was allegedly the translator. In this deal, Najib was accused to receiving a RM570million kickback, and Altantuya had purportedly returned to Malaysia in 2006 t get sher USD500,000 share of the commission.

However, according to French newspaper La Liberation, Najib's wife Rosmah Mansor kicked up a fuss and refused to pay Altantuya a sen. This resulted in Altantuya publicly pestering Baginda for money at his home. In turn, Baginda hired a private investigator P Balasubramaniam to help him keep Altantuya at bay, while he contacted Azilah to help him control the situation.

Initially, Baginda was charged for abetting Azilah and Sirul in the murder. Both cops are part of an elite police squad, while Baginda was a former Defense ministry lecturer and political analyst. Baginda was later acquitted without his defense being called. This again raised a storm of controversy, reinforcing the perception that powerful people - such as Najib who was by then the deputy prime minister - were involved in the cover-up.

Delay to keep the case out of the public eye until GE-13 is over

The long delay in getting the appeal heard is also perceived as helping to save Najib embarrassment until after the 13th general election, widely expected to be held this year, is over.

According to Kuldeep, the court documents were sent to him in stages over the last six months, resulting in the delay.

Meanwhile, lawyer Kitson Foong representing Sirul said a hearing date would only be fixed by the court to hear the appeals once all the documents were in order before the court. Kitson also confirmed the petition of appeal for Sirul has been filed and he was considering filing further grounds of appeal.

In sentencing both men to hang, Judge Mohd Zaki Md Yasin found the defence presented by both men were only "denials and blaming each other".

Malaysia Chronicle