DAP offers to help AGC convict ‘correct’ Altantuya killers -

The DAP legal bureau today offered its services to prosecutors in the high-profile murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu, suggesting that an overworked Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) may have led to the acquittal of two former policemen previously convicted of the killing.

This comes as Segambut MP and bureau member Lim Lip Eng (picture) lodged a police report in Jinjang here over the Court of Appeal’s decision to free ex-police commandos Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar of their conviction in 2009 of the gruesome murder.

“Give DAP legal bureau the fiat (authorisation order), we will make sure the correct person is prosecuted and convicted,” Lim said in a statement here.


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PKR: Ex-cops should be re-tried for Altantuya murder, not acquitted

File photo of ex-policemen Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar (heads covered). The Court of Appeal in Putrajaya on August 23, 2013 overturned their conviction of murdering Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu.

The Court of Appeal should have ordered a retrial of the high-profile murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shariibuu, instead of acquitting two former police commandos previously convicted of her killing, PKR’s R. Sivarasa said today.

The Subang MP stressed that the appellate court is empowered to do so, especially when there was a number of key witnesses who were not called during the High Court trial that led to the duo’s conviction in 2009.

“Even if the Court of Appeal found defects in the manner the High Court judge analysed the evidence and in the conduct of the prosecution in presenting the case, the proper order to make in this case was to order a retrial and not grant an acquittal,” Sivarasa told reporters here.

“There is ample power under the law in Section 60 of the Courts Judicature Act 1964 to order a retrial which is regularly done in appeals.”

In a decision that stirred controversy yesterday, a three-man panel of the appellate court unanimously ruled that Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar be allowed to appeal their charges.

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Winners and losers in the Altantuya saga

Altantuya Shaariibuu, the former Mongolian model whose life was ended brutally in Malaysia, but no one faces justice for the crime. August 24, 2013.


The murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu has had more twists and turns than a drive up Cameron Highlands, the latest being Friday's acquittal of policemen Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar.

This has never been a simple criminal case, and today, The Malaysian Insider looks at those who have had their reputations hammered by the case and those who have been let off easy.



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ALTANTUYA MURDER CHARGE: Two ex-policemen acquitted by Court of Appeal

In this Feb 4, 2009 archive picture, Koperal Sirul Azhar Umar (second from right) and Chief Inspektor Azilah Hadri (left) being led out of Shah Alam High Court



Two former Bukit Aman Special Forces Unit officers today succeeded in their appeal against their conviction for the murder of Mongolian national Altantuyaa Shaariibuu seven years ago.

A three member bench led by Datuk Seri Mohamed Apandi Ali allowed the appeal in the Court of Appeal here this morning.

First appellant Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri's fiancee of seven years, Norazila Baharudin, 35, was in tears when she heard the verdict.

"For seven years, we have been through so much. It is not easy for one to stay in prison," she said when met outside the court today.

Smiling while wiping away tears, Norazila, who is an operation manager at a construction firm, said she is extremely grateful to the hard work and effort put in by her fiancee's counsel Datuk Hazman Ahmad.

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Pakatan MPs demand A-G explain after ex-cops walk from Altantuya murder

Surendran ( R )said that despite Altantuya’s death over six years ago, no one has been brought to book for the murder. Gobind ( L ) said the Attorney-General must explain why it failed to call material witnesses in support of its case.


The Attorney-General must explain how his prosecutors allowed two former police commandos to go free for the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu after the Court of Appeal today reversed the 2009 conviction, Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers demanded.

The Court of Appeal overturned Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar’s 2009 conviction of the high-profile murder of the Mongolian woman, reportedly ruling that there was a misdirection by the High Court judge in the trial then.

The DAP’s Gobind Singh Deo said Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail must now answer for the prosecution team’s failure to ensure a safe conviction.

“The A-G must explain why is it they failed to call material witnesses in support of their case in this prosecution,” Puchong MP said.

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Azilah, Sirul freed of Altantuya murder charge

Sirul Azhar's lawyer, Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin, speaking to the media outside the court. The Malaysian Insider pic by Nazir Sufari, August 23, 2013.

Two former police commandos were freed today after the Court of Appeal allowed their appeal and overturned their conviction for the 2006 murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu (pic).

A three-member bench comprising judges Datuk Seri Mohamed Apandi Ali, Datuk Linton Albert and Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat made the unanimous decision to allow the appeal by former chief inspector Azilah Hadri and former corporal Sirul Azhar Umar.

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Former police commando files appeal against conviction

The Court of Appeal has allowed former Special Action Squad personnel Sirul Azhar Umar's application to include two additional grounds in his petition of appeal to set aside his conviction for the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.

The grounds for consideration was that the proceedings before the High Court was a mistrial due to adverse publicity and that the trial judge could have been biased due to the publicity.

A three-man bench chaired by Datuk Seri Mohamad Apandi Ali allowed the application after Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Tun Majid Tun Hamzah did not raise any objection.

Last week Sirul's lawyers filed a notice of motion at the Court of Appeal registry in an attempt to include additional grounds of appeal.

In the application, Sirul claimed that he was subjected to extensive "adverse publicity" during the trial which was misleading and prejudicial to him, thus denying him a fair hearing.


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Nazri gave misleading info on PI Bala’s case dismissal, PKR says

PKR vice-president Sivarasa Rasiah said that Nazri (pic) had given an inaccurate interpretation of the law which was “obviously wrong.”

PKR claimed today that Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz gave misleading information in Parliament about closing the case on private investigator P. Balasubramaniam.

PKR Information Chief Chua Tian Chang, or better known as Tian Chua, told reporters here that the answer of the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department to his question in Parliament contradicts the law.

“In a nutshell, Balasubramaniam’s case is completed and closed, so this is very weird because after so much publicity, in the end, without giving a reasonable excuse, the government said there is no case.

“If what Balasubramaniam had said was totally untrue, if what he had said was baseless, he should be taken action against because he has smeared the reputation of country’s leader,” he said.

RPK Part1 and part 2 - I did not go to the Embassy

On April 23, 2011, Raja Petra was reportedly asked to head for the embassy immediately after his talk at Bangkok's Florida Hotel. The event also served to launch MCLM's Thailand chapter..

Raja Petra said he would not be going to the Malaysian embassy but instead offered to meet the officials at his hotel the next day.

Raja Petra’s statement important

Fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin’s statement is important in the investigation over a police report lodged against him on April 14, says Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.

Police trick to bring RPK back to KL, says lawyer

Haris: Why would the investigating officer come all the way to Bangkok to question a witness to a possible crime and not have a copy of the police report with him? The whole thing stank.

The police bid to interview Raja Petra Kamarudin at the Malaysian embassy in Bangkok was a trap to bring the controversial blogger back home, his lawyer said today.

Lawyer Haris Ibrahim said he warned the Malaysia Today editor to insist on having his statement taken at a Bangkok hotel rather than in the embassy, which is considered Malaysian territory.

“We voiced our concerns that the embassy, in international law deemed as Malaysian soil, we feared that this whole business of taking his statement there was a ruse to get him in there, effect an arrest and then, with or without the aid of the local authorities, have him repatriated back to Kamunting,” Haris said in a posting at his harismibrahim.wordpress.com blog.

Raja Petra was in Bangkok to launch his Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) Thai chapter in his capacity as the group’s chairman. Haris is the MCLM president.

Police: Raja Petra speaking to Bukit Aman officers in Bangkok

MCLM said in a statement that Raja Petra is not under arrest.

Raja Petra Kamarudin wants to meet Bukit Aman officers at his hotel in Bangkok tomorrow and not at the Malaysian embassy tonight, as initial reports had suggested.

Earlier this evening, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar disclosed that a request had been made to the visiting blogger after Raja Petra’s Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) announced the Malaysia Today portal editor had been asked to give a statement.

Khalid did not divulge the nature of the meeting with Raja Petra but it is understood the statement is connected to the blogger’s statutory declaration made on June 18, 2008 over the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case.

MAF probe on senior military officer allegedly associated with RPK

The Defence Ministry has identified one of its senior officers who was allegedly involved in a conspiracy to malign a government leader in connection with the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.

The officer has been relieved of official duties pending investigations.

Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) chief Tan Sri Azizan Ariffin said the military was conducting a probe into the alleged involvement of the officer, a colonel.

"Information supplied by the officer to blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin was false and it had never existed in our files," he said in a statement Friday.

RPK: I’m no sellout

Raja Petra said he will not be coming back to Malaysia, at least not until the government changes.

Controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin insisted today he is still behind the opposition cause and denied that he has sold out after giving an interview to TV3.

He caused a stir two days ago when he said on the national television station that he never accused Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife of being behind the gruesome 2006 murder of Mongolian woman Altantuya Shariibuu.

The editor of the Malaysia Today news portal explained his actions in an email interview with The Malaysian Insider. The full text is reproduced below.

TMI: You were recently in Australia, meaning you have a passport to travel. Where are you now and where are you based? Will you be coming back to Malaysia soon?

RPK: I am currently in Bali. And no, I will not be going back to Malaysia, at least not until the government changes. If Barisan Nasional remains the government then I shall have to be buried in Brookwood beside my mother when I die.

Ku Li not commenting on RPK’s latest posting

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah does not want to be dragged into the latest controversy stirred up by Malaysia Today founder and editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin.

His personal aide Lukman Mohd Ghani said the Umno veteran did not want to comment on the matter as he did not want to be perceived as being involved.

Raja Petra's latest online posting had implicated Razaleigh's aides in his controversial statutory declaration (SD) in 2008 which implicated Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor in the murder of Mongolian beauty Altantuya Shaariibuu on Oct 19, 2006.

The posting followed his interview with TV3 in which he claimed that he had doubts over the details of the SD.

Raja Petra’s admission ‘exposes the chief conspirator’

Raja Petra Kamaruddin's admission that an attempt was made to implicate the Prime Minister and his wife in Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu's murder has exposed the “chief conspirator,” said Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's former aide Anuar Shaari.

Anuar, the PKR adviser's former secretary, said it was clear who actually conspired to implicate Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor in the murder.

“Raja Petra has exposed the individuals associated with an Opposition leader said to be behind the conspiracy to prevent Najib from becoming the Prime Minister,” he told Bernama.

PKR vice-president Tian Chua, meanwhile, cautioned Barisan Nasional against trusting Raja Petra, saying the blogger was capable of making an about-turn in a matter of hours.

RPK: Anwar has lost his credibility

Blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin claimed Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim lost his credibility as the Opposition leader when he failed to fulfil the promise that the Opposition pact would form the government on Sept 16, 2008.

Raja Petra, who said Anwar was once his close friend, added that he too was deceived by the PKR adviser's false promises when he (Raja Petra) was detained under the Internal Security Act.

“Anwar came to the court because there were two cases going on simultaneously and told me don't worry, you will be out soon because we are going to form the government on Sept 16',” he said in the second part of an interview with TV3 aired last night.

Raja Petra alleged that unfulfilled promises, internal bickering in Pakatan Rakyat and Anwar's personal issues were enough for the people to re-evaluate Anwar's capability to lead the Opposition pack.

RPK: I don’t believe PM’s wife was at Altantuya's murder scene

Controversial fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin had doubts about his statutory declaration (SD) implicating Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor in the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.

In a sensational interview over TV3 last night, Raja Petra said he had made the allegations on the belief that the order came from PKR adviser and Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The Malaysia Today founder and editor said his SD in 2008 which stated he was reliably informed that Rosmah was among those present at the crime scene on Oct 19, 2006 when Altantuya was killed was based on information and demand by several individuals aimed at preventing Najib from becoming prime minister.

RPK: I don't believe Najib, Rosmah involved in Altantuya murder

alaysia Today founder and editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin says he was not responsible for accusations linking Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor to the murder of Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu.

He said he himself doubted the accusations when he made a statutory declaration (SD) on June 18, 2008, in which he had stated that he received information from several individuals claiming Rosmah was at the scene where Altantuya was murdered.

RPK on TV3, explains his Altantuya stories

– The pro-government TV3 station aired an exclusive interview with blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin tonight, where he claimed that he was merely writing accusations made by others against Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife over the Altantuya murder case.

“I never accused the Prime Minister or his wife of being involved in the murder of Altantuya Sharibuu,” Raja Petra (picture) was quoted as saying in a transcript made available at the private television station’s website.