Dad and I are not close, Altantuya’s son tells court

Altantuya Shaariibuu’s eldest son, Bayarkhuu Bayarjargal.

SHAH ALAM: Altantuya Shaariibuu’s eldest son told the High Court today that he was not close to his father as he only met him for the first time when he was 14.

Bayarkhuu Bayarjargal, who is now 21, said he met Bayarjargal Bayasgalan in 2011.

“That was the first time I met my father after he returned from the UK,” Bayarkhuu said when cross-examined by Abdul Razak Baginda’s lawyer, Manjeet Singh Dhillon.

Bayarkhuu was previously called Mungunshagai Bayarjargal. He told the court yesterday that he changed his name due to the negative publicity which arose from his mother’s death.

Bayarkhuu, who graduated from the Mongolian National University last year, said he did not know whether Bayarjargal, a singer in the local entertainment industry, had been given the opportunity to raise him.

“But he refused to take me with his new family,” he added.

He said his father had apologised for not being with him when he was a child. When further questioned by Manjeet, he said, “I know I had a father, but he did not shower me with love.”

According to Bayarkhuu, his parents divorced in 1998 when he was a year old. However, he said he gathered that they might not have been officially married as there were no documents or photographs of the event.

He said his father told him that he had re-married and had other children. His paternal grandfather also told him that it was impossible for him to live with his father’s new family.

His maternal grandfather, Setev Shaariibbuu, had stopped him from meeting his father, he added.

“I don’t know why both sides stopped me. I never asked them.”

He rejected a suggestion by Manjeet that he was proud of his father, which was why he had retained the name of Bayarjargal despite changing his first name.

“I had the prefix ‘Bayar’ as it means joy in the Mongolian language,” he said.

Bayarkhuu, along with Altantuya’s father Shaariibbuu, Shaariibbuu’s wife Altantsetseg Sanjaa and Altantuya’s other son, Altanshagai Munkhtulga, filed the suit against the government, Razak and two others on June 4, 2007.

Altanshagai’s name was removed as a plaintiff following his death two years ago.

In their statement of claim, the family alleged that Altantuya’s death had caused them mental shock and psychological trauma.

They also claim that there was conspiracy in Altantuya’s murder, and are seeking RM100 million in damages, including dependency claims.

Altantuya was murdered in the jungles in Puncak Alam near Shah Alam, Selangor. She was shot in the head before her body was blown up with explosives.

Two policemen, Sirul Azhar Umar and Azilah Hadri, who were the personal bodyguards of then-deputy prime minister Najib Razak, were found guilty and sentenced to death for her murder.

Razak, who was an aide to Najib, was charged with abetting the duo but later acquitted without his defence being called.

The hearing before judge Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera has been adjourned to May 6. - FMT