UPDATE3 KUALA LUMPUR - It looks like the Altantuya murder script that the Malaysian Opposition has been warning against is starting to unfold according to plan.
Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar has called on the country to accept the decision of the Appeals Court to acquit the two former bodyguards of Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor from murder charges.
“I think it is not necessary. Why should we conduct a new investigation?” Khalid said at a press conference today.
“Everybody should respect the findings of the court.”
Massive cover-up
The judges also found the failure of the Attorney General's Chambers to call Najib's aide-de-camp Musa Safir as a witness to be a fundamental flaw.
"That means the world including Mongolia must accept that there are no killers in the Altantuya murder. The Malaysian government will become a laughing stock of the international community. In the heart of the majority of Malaysians, the whole affair is nothing but a massive cover-up to protect the Prime Minister, his family and friends," Opposition MP for Batu Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.
Don't play dumb, you're a lawyer too
Another Opposition lawmaker Sivarasa Rasiah rapped Khalid for "irresponsibility". According to Siva, Khalid was a trained lawyer and should understand the judgment issued by the Appeals Court.
"If he is a responsible IGP, he should have straightaway launched a new investigation as to why Musa Safiri was not called as a witness, what was Musa's role, what was the scope of his involvement in the murder given that Musa was pointed out to be the person who had introduced Najib's bodyguards to his associate Razak Baginda and Altantuya was taken away from Razak Baginda's house by the two bodyguards on the night of the murder," Siva told Malaysia Chronicle.
According to Siva, who is also the MP for Subang, the top cop's comments confirmed suspicions that the various agencies were now acting according to a "script" written by Najib's advisers so as to finally put a lid on the corruption-and-murder scandal that has dogged both the prime minister and his wife since the murder of the beautiful Mongolian national had hit the headlines in the mid 2000s.
The then 28-year-old Altantuya, rumored to have been Najib's former lover, was killed in a jungle clearing in Selangor in 2006. The High Court had found Najib's ex-bodyguards Azilah Hadri and Sirul Umar Azhar guilty of shooting her twice in the head and then exploding her body with C4 military-grade explosives.
The duo were sentenced to be hanged in 2009 but their appeal was delayed, with many critics alleging that this was intentional and aimed to bypass the recently-concluded general election so as to avoid any voter unhappiness with the Najib administration over the alleged murder cover-up.
Confession, yet they were acquitted!
In their documents and statements to the police, Sirul had confessed to killing Altantuya and even receiving payment for it. However, with last month's acquittal, the mainstream media controlled by Najib's government appear to have gone on a major exercise to rehabilitate their image, portraying their pair as having repented, turning to Islam for comfort during their 7-year-detention.
Amid a blaze of criticism from within and outside Malaysia, Attorney General Gani Patail had hastened to announce that he had filed an appeal to the Federal Court - Malaysia's apex court - against the Appellate court ruling.
He denied having been negligent in his prosecution of Azilah and Sirul but it is clear that the majority of those who have been following the case believe that the 'errors' his Chambers had made during the murder trial were deliberate and aimed to produce an acquittal from the Appeals court.
Very glaringly, while Gani had made a bid fuss of filing the appeal, he has not applied for a warrant of arrest from the Federal Court against the duo pending the appeal hearing.
"If the AG is sincere, there must be 2 actions. File an appeal to the Federal Court. Then get a warrant of arrest to remand the duo once again until the new hearing. We hear of the appeal being filed but why no arrest," asked Siva.
"Will the AG be responsible if Sirul and Azilah escape and never attend the Federal Court hearing? Is this part of the script? Why are Gani and Khalid acting like the main stars in this Najib production? We would demand that the AG makes a public announcement as to whether he has filed for an arrest order, failing which there is only once conclusion. Azilah and Sirul are meant to walk free and to conveniently disappear.
"That the IGP says there is no need for an investigation also indicates that the AG has not informed him of any such an move to re-arrest the duo. In other words, there is no intention at all to bring the killers of Altatuya to justice."
Instructions from above
While the majority of Malaysians believe it was the duo who physically killed Altantuya, they also believe the pair were hired killers who had murdered the Mongolian lady on 'instructions from above'.
The ultimate blame, most Malaysians believe, would lie with Najib and Rosmah given the excessive connections and links to them in the entire case, which also involves Najib's close friend Razak Baginda, his brother Nazim and former private secretary Nasir Saffar.
Altantuya is believed to have been killed because she had demanded for share of illicit commission from the Malaysian government's acquisition of 2 Scorpene submarines, which Najib had sanctioned as he was then the Defennse minister.
Malaysia Chronicle
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