Malaysia Crime Watch

16 January 2009
Shah Alam

The High Court murder trial of Altantuya Shaariibuu has continued on with the accused police officers entering their defence for the murder charges against them. 32-year-old Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and 36-year-old Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar claimed trial to murdering the 28-year-old Mongolian woman between 19 October 2006 10pm and 20 October 2006 1am at Mukim Bukit Raja.

Azilah testified that DSP Musa Mohd Safri, then aide-de-camp to the Deputy Prime Minister, had met him on 17 October 2006 while the former was on escort duty to Pekan, Pahang. He had asked Azilah if he knew any police officer at the Brickfields police station who could help co-accused Abdul Razak Baginda who was threatened by two people. One of them was allegedly Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Azilah said he contacted Razak, a political analyst, using a mobile phone number provided by DSP Musa. Razak had asked Azilah to meet him at his office and gave the address of his office via the short messaging service (SMS).

When Azilah met Razak at his office, the latter described the threats made by a Chinese man and woman. Azilah listened to Razak’s phone voice mail which read “saya kasi pecah you punya muka”, meaning “I will break your face” in Malay.

Azilah said Razak refused to listen to his advice to lodge a police report. Although he had hired a home security guard and a private investigator, Razak had asked Azilah to go to Hotel Malaya, Room 512, to speak to the woman. Azilah was handed a A4-size paper containing the addresses of his house and Hotel Malaya. Azilah also received a copy of the woman’s phone bill and a handwritten letter which he did not read.

Azilah proceeded to Razak’s house and then to his Bukit Aman police office headquarters where he met Azhar. They both went to the hotel on 18 October 2006. However, they did not manage to meet Altantuya, whom Azilah had been referring to in court as the “woman”, because the paper which Razak had given to Azilah showed the number 823.

The next day, Azilah said Razak had called him about Altantuya and a man waiting outside his house. Azilah went to Razak’s house with Lance Corporal Rohaniza Roslan, who was his former girlfriend. At the house, an Indian man, who was with Altantuya, introduced himself to Azilah as Bala.

Azilah went on to explain that after he had spoken to the two outside Razak’s house, Azhar, who came over on his own, was walking towards their car. He told Rohaniza to sit at the back seat. When he turned around, Azilah saw the two walking towards them. Altantuya then entered the car and sat at the back next to Rohaniza.

While driving, Azilah advised Altantuya to see Razak at his office if she needed to talk to him. Then, Azhar requested to be dropped off so that he could take his jeep. However, Rohaniza said she needed to go to Petaling Jaya to see a friend, so Azilah asked Azhar to fetch Altantuya to her hotel in his jeep.

Azilah shared the day’s activities with Razak later. He then proceeded to Wangsa Maju with his fiance Norazila Baharuddin at 10:30pm for supper. At 12:20am, Azilah went back to Bukit Aman, where Rohaniza was waiting to fetch him to Putrajaya for his assignment in Hong Kong.

The hearing before Justice Mohd Zaki Md Yasin continues today.

The Star Online – Azilah: Senior police officer asked me to help Razak
<URL:http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/1/16/courts/3036090&sec=courts>

New Straits Times Online – Azilah tells court of threats against Razak
<URL:http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Friday/National/2454318/Article/index_html>

MCW – Altantuya Murder Trial: Postponed to January 2009
<URL:http://malaysiacrimewatch.lokety.com/altantuya-murder-trial-postponed-to-january-2009/>

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