ATLANTUYA MURDER TRIAL JANUARY 15 2009

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Extracted from Malaysiakini dated 15th January 2009

Azilah, the 32-year old chief inspector, took up the post of Najib’s chief escort on Oct 20 - just a day after the murder allegedly took place. He tells the court how he came to know Razak Baginda, the latter’s problem with Altantuya and how he roped in his colleague Sirul to help out.

By SK English Team

Taking the witness stand for the first time, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri told a charged courtroom today that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s aide-de-camp Musa Safri instructed him to help Razak Baginda, Najib’s former adviser and close friend.

“It was on Oct 17, 2006, while in Pekan, Pahang while accompanying the Deputy Prime Minister, Musa approached me and asked me whether I knew anyone from the Brickfields district police station,” said the 32-year old Azilah.

“I told him I knew Deputy Superintendent Idris Abdul Karim who is the head of criminal investigations of the Brickfields station, whom I know since my days as an investigating officer in Sepang police.

“Musa told me that his friend Abdul Razak needed help as he had been threatened by someone. Musa gave me Abdul Razak’s cell number for me to contact.”

Azilah, together with Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, his colleague from Special Action Unit, an elite outfit tasked to protect Najib and his office, are on trial for the ruthless and gory murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu.

The beautiful 28-year old Altantuya was murdered and her body blown up with explosives to prevent identification at a location between Lot 12843 and Lot 16735 in a jungle clearing in Mukim Bukit Raja between 10 pm on Oct 19, 2006, and 1 am the following day.

The case been widely followed both nationally and internationally because the beautiful 28-year old Altantuya was alleged to have been Najib’s mistress before passing her to Razak Baginda, who has admitted taking her in as his lover.

Although Najib has denied the allegations, he has not been able to shake off the accusations, which flared again when Razak was acquitted and discharged without having to enter his defence on charges of having abetted Azilah and Sirul in the murder.

The public prosecutor too drew fire when he decided against appealing Razak’s acquittal. If found guilty, Razak - a political analyst - would have faced the death penalty.

Prominent lawyer Karpal Singh, acting on behalf of Altantuya Shaariibuu’s family, has however filed an application to compel the prosecution to appeal against Abdul Razak’s acquittal.

How Azilah contacted and met Razak Baginda

Meanwhile, during his testimony today, Azilah appeared to deny any involvement in the murder as he was not at the scene of the crime at the alleged time of the murder and claimed to have an alibi. He also repeatedly referred to Altantuya as a “Chinese woman” and not by her name.

Azilah told the Shah Alam High Court today that he tried calling Abdul Razak when he got back to Kuala Lumpur the next day on Oct 18.

However, he only got a wrong number. He then inquired from Musa again and this time got another number for Abdul Razak.

Azilah said he managed to contact Abdul Razak this time and introduced himself. The political analyst asked Azilah to meet him at his office at Bangunan Getah Asli.

Azilah said he went to Abdul Razak’s office that day itself on Oct 18, where he met the latter in his study.

“After introducing myself as Musa’s friend, Abdul Razak related his problems to me of being threatened by an unknown Chinese man and a Chinese woman (Altantuya),” said Azilah.

“He did not give any background of the people who threatened him or what was the reason behind it but he allowed me to listen to a voice mail on his cell phone where a man with a Chinese accent said ‘Saya mahu kasi pecah you punya muka ‘(I want to break your face),” the policeman said.

Then, Azilah said Abdul Razak allowed him to listen to another voice mail and this time of a woman speaking in English who also threatened him.

“After hearing his problem, I advised Abdul Razak to lodge a police report. However, he did not want to do so and asked me to patrol in front of his house in Bukit Damansara to prevent those two from causing trouble in front of his residence.

“Abdul Razak also gave me an address of a room in Hotel Malaya where Altantuya was staying and wanted me to tell the woman to stop harassing him. He also gave me Altantuya’s handphone number (017-3992411), whom he referred to as Aminah,” said Azilah.

How Sirul got involved

On returning to his office in Bukit Aman, Azilah said he was briefed that he was to lead a team to Hong Kong soon.

While at the police headquarters, Azilah said he met Sirul and asked if he was willing to help Abdul Razak.

Later both Azilah and Sirul met up at the Central Market and decided to go to Hotel Malaya.

“When arriving at the room, I did not dare knock on the door for fear of disturbing the privacy of the occupants. I also feared that it maybe the wrong room as the number Abdul Razak told me was different to what he wrote on a note pad,” said Azilah.

The next day on Oct 19, while he was briefing his officers over the trip to Hong Kong, Azilah said he found out that the trip had been cancelled. He was asked to escort Najib the next day on Oct 20.

“I went out to break fast with Lance Corporal Rohaniza at a Thai restaurant in Petaling Jaya. While there, I received a phone call from Abdul Razak informing me that the Chinese woman (Altantuya) was causing disturbances outside his home and required my help,” recounted Azilah.

“He asked me to go to his house where a private investigator P Balasubramaniam was waiting there with Altantuya,” he added.

When and how Azilah met Balasubramaniam and Altantuya

Together with Lance Corporal Rohaniza Roslan, who was then his girlfriend, he drove to Abdul Razak’s house that night itself - the night of the alleged murder.

He also contacted Sirul, who said he would meet him there.

After exchanging brief introductions with the Indian man - Balasubramaniam - Azilah said he walked back to his car and contacted Razak again. This time, Razak told him to send the woman back to the hotel.

By this time Sirul had also arrived at the scene.

As Azilah walked back towards Balasubramaniam and Altantuya, they walked towards the policeman’s car. The woman voluntarily got into the vehicle, Azilah testified.

“Nobody gave any orders,” Azilah said, when asked by his counsel Hazman Ahmad if anyone had ordered her to get into the car.

Azilah then drove off in the car with Rohaniza, Sirul and Altantuya.

When and why Altantuya moved to Sirul’s jeep

Sirul then asked to be dropped off at his jeep before the two vehicles moved off together towards Bukit Aman.

However, Rohaniza said that they could not drop Altantuya at her hotel as she (Rohaniza) needed to meet a friend in Petaling Jaya.

Azilah then called Sirul to ask if he could send the woman back and he agreed. They stopped the cars and moved the woman to Sirul’s jeep.

This was the last time Azilah mentioned Altantuya in his testimony.

After reaching Bukit Aman, Azilah then went to Wangsa Maju with his fiancee, Norazila Baharudin, to have char kuey teow. It was 10.30 pm at this point and Azilah claims that they spent 45 minutes eating. By the time Azilah had returned to Bukit Aman, it was 12.20am.

He said that he then left with Rohaniza to Putrajaya to take up his assignment as Najib’s chief escort. He added that when he arrived at the Special Action Unit transit house in Putrajaya, he saw another person in the living room and identified him as Che Kamarizaman.

The hearing continues tomorrow with the cross-examination of Azilah by the prosecution.