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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Lawyer Americk Singh Sidhu denied that private investigator P Balasubramaniam affirmed his first sworn statement under duress.
Speaking to reporters at the PKR headquarters in Tropicana, Petaling Jaya today, Americ said that Balasubramaniam's statutory declaration filed on July 1 2008 was made voluntarily.
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today denied allegations that he had links with murdered Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu as claimed by a private detective.
Reading out from a prepared statement at a packed press conference in Parliament this evening, the embattled deputy premier reiterated that he had never met or knew Altantuya.
He dismissed the statutory declaration filed by private eye P Balasubramaniam, who was hired by Najib's close associate Abdul Razak Baginda to deal with the Altantuya problem, as "concocted" claims.
Private investigator P. Balasubramaniam’s lawyer has rubbished a claim by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigations director that it was his client who had delayed recording his statement.
“This is absolute rubbish! They were never ready and this chap Mustafar (Ali) is pulling wool over everyone’s eyes.
“Bala has always been ready and available,” said his counsel Manjeet Singh Dhillon in an email to The Star from London yesterday.
Manjeet was responding to a report in an English daily yesterday that the MACC was recording his client’s statement in July at Balasubramaniam’s request.
“We were ready a long time ago but he said he would only be ready in July,” Mustafar had said.
Private Investigor to Razak Baginda alleged believed to be hiding in Thailand ,Madras or Singapore.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) is seeking a formal request from private investigator P. Balasubramaniam to enable the graft busters to probe allegations he has made about the circumstances surrounding the death of Altantuya Shaariibuu.
The missing private detective has made a series of sensational claims that Najib knew murdered Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu and his brother Nazim and a businessman linked to the prime minister’s wife made him retract a statutory declaration on the case.
Earlier this month, Balasubramaniam (picture), who is now overseas, had said he was prepared to give a statement to MACC.
The MACC had, in a letter dated Dec 17 to the private detective's lawyer Americk Sidhu, asked Balasubramaniam to deal formally with the agency.
"The MACC have contacted me by sending a letter to my office in KL requesting that I correspond with them on a formal basis before they respond to my original offer of arranging an appointment for them to interview Bala.
"Their letter to my office was dated 17th Dec and arrived on the 21st," Americk said in an email response to The Malaysian Insider.
Balasubramaniam had expressed his intention to cooperate with MACC in an email to the agency earlier this month. On Dec 4, PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin lodged a police report over Balasubramaniam's allegations and handed over a recording of an interview with the private investigator to the authorities.
After a number of blogs and news portals published the interview conducted with Balasubramaniam and his lawyers in Singapore, a number of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders had lodged reports with the MACC.
Balasubramaniam, in his original email to MACC, had listed down conditions for his questioning by the authorities, including a requirement that it be conducted either in Singapore or London.
Asked today if he thought the MACC's response was positive, Americk said:
"I am not sure whether we can consider the MACC's response as positive as all they have asked is for me to reiterate what I have stated earlier in a formal format.
"In this day and age I am not sure why the MACC consider an email not 'formal'."
Datuk Seri Najib Razak has frostily ignored Balasubramaniam’s claims that his architect brother was allegedly involved in the private investigator’s disappearance and payoff for his silence in the Altantuya murder case.
The Umno president has previously denied knowing Altantuya, who was killed in October 2006, despite claims by Bala and popularised by fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin. Najib’s close friend, political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, was acquitted of charges of plotting her murder while two elite policemen are to hang for the offence. They are appealing the sentence.
In an interview with Bala carried in Raja Petra’s Malaysia-Today.net news portal, the private investigator claimed he met architect Nazim, a younger brother of Najib, last year.
Bala claimed the meeting had been arranged by a carpet businessman identified as Deepak Jaikishan, whom the investigator claimed was a close associate of Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, the PM’s wife.
He also alleged that he was offered RM5 million to retract his first statutory declaration and that his family was threatened if he did not do it.
The former Special Branch policeman further claimed he was forced to sign a second pre-prepared statutory declaration which he claims to have never read and was paid RM750,000 after he disappeared.
So far, no one knows the whereabouts of the private investigator but he claimed he returned three times to Malaysia this year since fleeing in July 2008 after issuing contradictory statutory declarations. Police are seeking him although he claimed to have given them his statement in Bangkok before travelling to India.
Pakatan Rakyat has used the Altantuya case in some of its campaigns in the nine by-elections since Election 2008, winning seven in most opposition-held constituencies. The only Barisan Nasional seat it wrested effectively was the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat.
As the MACC is investigating the case, Americk Singh has sent investigating officer Abdul Rahman Bachok two emails, the contents of which were published yesterday on Raja Petra's website.
In an email dated Dec 4, Americk Singh (right) told Abdul Rahman that Bala is prepared to assist the MACC in its investigations and to be interviewed by its officers.
However, several terms were stipulated:
1) That the interview should be conducted in either Singapore or London
2) That the time and date of the interview should be mutually agreed to suit all parties involved
3) That the MACC should bear the cost of all airfares, including those of the lawyers involved
4) That the MACC should also bear all hotel expenses, subsistence, transportation and meals in respect of Bala and his lawyers
5) That any statement recorded from Bala should be in the English language, a copy of which should be given to the PI
6) That the lawyers should be allowed to make audio-visual recordings of the interview
Americk Singh explained that Bala is "concerned about his safety and welfare if this interview were to be conducted in Malaysia and will not entertain any assurances given by the MACC or any other party".
No comment from MACC
The lawyer also urged Abdul Rahman to respond promptly to the email so that he could relay the proposals to Bala.
"As you (Abdul Rahman) obviously have my mobile number, please feel free to contact me at any time to make the necessary arrangements," he wrote.
He further revealed that Abdul Rahman had contacted him on Dec 8 to verify the matter.
When contacted for comments, however, a MACC spokesperson said: "Due to ongoing investigations, we cannot reveal anything."
Bala, a former Special Branch detective, had made public a statutory declaration last year linking then deputy premier (now prime minister) Najib Abdul Razak to Altantuya.
However, the document was retracted within 24 hours under questionable circumstances and Bala fled abroad with his family.
Americk has since claimed that Bala's disappearance is linked to Najib's younger brother, Nazim. When the premier finally broke his silence, it was only to dismiss the claim as “frivolous”.
PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskander Mohd Akin lodged a report with the MACC over Nazim's alleged involvement in bribery.
He was called for questioning at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya two days later. Shamsul also said that Abdul Rahman Bachok told him locate Bala.
