The police, on their own initiative, can reopen the investigation into the 2006 murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu, according to a former Malaysian Bar president.
Salim Bashir said they do not need to wait for a police report to be made and can rely on the claim by former police commando Azilah Hadri.
During a Federal Court hearing last Thursday, Azilah had his death sentence commuted to 40 years in jail and 12 rotan strokes.
At the hearing, Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat cited Azilah’s affidavit where the convict claimed he killed Altantuya on orders from then-defence minister Najib Abdul Razak and the minister’s then-aide-de-camp Musa Safri.
Najib, however, has consistently reiterated his innocence of any involvement in Altantuya’s murder.
Salim yesterday said the Police Act 1967 empowers the police to reopen the murder investigation on their own initiative without prior reports lodged by the public.
He also said Section 107 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) states that the first information report (FIR) is not a substantive piece of evidence, and is only meant to assist in starting the investigation of an offence.
“FIR by the public is not a condition precedent to start an investigation. Section 110 of the CPC entails that police officers not below the rank of sergeant or the officer in charge of a police station may exercise the right of investigative powers without an order to investigate for a seizable offence.
“Police officers may start an investigation based on reliable information that an offence has been committed. Their investigation and power of arrest are not purely confined to CPC but equally governed by the Police Act 1967,” he told Malaysiakini.
Lawyer Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar Al Mahdzar concurred that the law empowers the police to be proactive and reopen the Altantuya case.
“Now we have a very independent judiciary.
“The government now seeks the truth, so the police need to be proactive and take action,” he told Malaysiakini.
On Monday (Oct 14), the lawyer of Altantuya’s family Sangeet Kaur Deo questioned the attorney-general (AG) over Azilah’s affidavit which went unchallenged.
“The additional affidavit includes uncontested claims that Azilah acted under explicit instructions, a fact left unchallenged by the public prosecutor, raising serious questions about the AG’s actions.
“The family demands to know if these allegations have been investigated and if not, why they remain unaddressed,” she added.
Altantuya, 28, was murdered in Shah Alam, Selangor, in October 2006. Her remains were blown up with military-grade explosives.
In April 2009, the Shah Alam High Court found Azilah, now 48, and fellow police commando Sirul Azhar Umar, now 52, guilty of Altantuya’s murder and sentenced them to death.
Sirul flew to Australia and was detained by the authorities there for overstaying his tourist visa. However, Australia does not deport individuals facing the death penalty in their country of origin.
In 2015, an earlier Court of Appeal verdict that discharged and acquitted the two men was reversed by the Federal Court, which reinstated their conviction and death sentence.
Only Azilah’s death sentence was commuted.
Sirul was released from immigration detention last November and is understood to still be in Australia. – Malaysiakini