Altantuya told police to look for Razak Baginda if something happened to her

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Murdered Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu had stated in her police report, hours before she went missing, that her lover Abdul Razak Baginda should be questioned if anything happened to her, the High Court heard today.

Investigating officer Tonny Lunggan said it was one of the reasons the political analyst was arrested on Nov 7, 2006.

He was giving evidence in a negligence suit filed against Razak, the government and two policemen by the family of Altantuya.

In a previous proceeding, Corporal Nurwazlihawa Ibrahim had said she took a report from a distressed Altantuya at the Tun HS Lee station in Jalan Bandar at about noon on Oct 19, 2006.

The two-page report said Altantuya had come to Kuala Lumpur to see Razak and to get some money that had been promised to her, and that she would return to Mongolia after that.

She said Razak had threatened her life and had accused her of blackmailing him through some “stupid letters”.

Tonny today told the court that police were unable to record a statement from Altantuya as she had gone missing after that and was later reported to be dead.

“Her report ought to be investigated as she went missing after that. More so when Altantuya’s cousin, Namiraa Gerelmma, had also implicated Razak in her police report,” the 26th witness said in his witness statement.

He said police arrested Razak on Nov 7 and that the political analyst had made a police report on Oct 23 that Altantuya had created a ruckus outside his home at Bukit Damansara in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 17.

Tonny said Razak had also stated in the report that on Oct 20, a man and two foreign women were outside his house creating a scene.

“Razak, in his statement recorded on Oct 30, also revealed that he had informed Azilah (Hadri) about the commotion that took place on Oct 17,” Tonny said.

He said investigations later revealed that Azilah and Sirul Azahar Umar never knew Altantuya.

“It was obvious that Razak had to be arrested for further investigation,” he said in the trial of the negligence suit filed by Altantuya’s father Setev, his wife Altantsetseg Sanjaa and Altantuya’s son, Mungunshagai Bayarjargal.

To a question by Sangeet Kaur Deo, representing the family, Tonny said he did not know why Razak made a report on Oct 23 when Altantuya had gone to his house on Oct 17.

The plaintiffs have named Razak, the government as well as former police officers Sirul and Azilah as defendants in the suit.

The family, which alleges conspiracy in Altantuya’s murder, is seeking RM100 million in damages, including dependency claims.

Altantuya was murdered between 10pm on Oct 19, 2006 and 11am the following day in the jungles of Puncak Alam, Selangor. She was shot in the head before her body was blown up with explosives.

Razak, who was an aide to then deputy prime minister Najib Razak, was charged with abetting Azilah and Sirul, but he was later acquitted without his defence being called.

Sirul and Azilah, who were part of the police’s Unit Tindakan Khas, were convicted in 2009 by the High Court of killing Altantuya.

They succeeded in overturning their conviction at the Court of Appeal in 2013, but the Federal Court in 2015 restored their conviction and sentenced them to death. Sirul fled to Australia before the final verdict.

Neither Sirul, who is being held at an Australian detention centre, nor Azilah, who is on death row at Kajang Prison, have challenged the suit.

The hearing before judge Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera continues. – FMT