FLIMSY EXCUSE FROM NAJIB: No need for Altantuya RCI as Sirul has not made official statement - Putrajaya

KUALA LUMPUR - The Attorney-General (A-G) has not initiated any move to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu, as there is no official statement made by one of her killers on allegations that she was killed on orders, a minister said today.

Nancy Shukri, the minister in charge of law, said they have to-date not received any official statement from Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar – one of two former police commandos who were found guilty and sentenced to death for the Mongolian woman’s murder in 2006.

“Hence, no action has been initiated by the Attorney-General’s Chambers,” she said in a one-paragraph written parliamentary reply to DAP Seputeh MP Teresa Kok.

In April, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang had proposed that Putrajaya set up an RCI to probe and find answers to a list of outstanding questions surrounding Altantuya’s death, including the motive and the identity of the person who purportedly ordered Sirul and former chief inspector Azilah Hadri to kill her.

Lim’s suggestions followed numerous calls for the police to reopen the case after Sirul claimed that he was acting under orders when he and Azilah shot Altantuya dead before blowing up her body with explosives.

Sirul and Azilah were charged with the murder of 28-year-old Altantuya in 2006 and convicted in 2009.

They were freed after the appellate court acquitted them in 2013, but the Federal Court reversed the decision in January this year and sentenced them to death by hanging.

Sirul was a no-show during the Federal Court hearing and it was later revealed that he is in Australia.

Malaysian police have sent a formal request to Australia through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to extradite Sirul.

Australia, however, has not acquiesced to the request, as their extradition legislation prohibits an individual from being sent back to another country for an offence punishable by death, unless that country pledges not to carry out a death sentence. - Malay Mail