ALTANTUYA MURDER ~ THE MISSING LINKS by Americk Sidhu (reprise)

COMMENT This is the first time in 38 years I have actually found myself in agreement with (former) prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his recent, although rather belated, queries in respect of the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder saga.

These questions make sense. These are the same questions a very large portion of the Malaysian population has been asking for over eight years now.

Khalid Abu Bakar (right), our beloved (former) inspector-general of police (IGP), has in the meantime, been performing backward somersaults trying to avoid the entire issue and instead, appears to have dedicated his entire career to tracking Twitter messages on social media.

'Twitter Khalid' has even had the audacity to threaten (which he is very good at) anyone who dares to bring up the issue of 'motive' in the grisly murder of an innocent female foreign national at the hands of two of Malaysia's best trained commandos.

The excuse Khalid has given is that the Federal Court has made a decision and any questioning of the reasons behind that decision would be tantamount to contempt of court.

What Khalid has failed miserably to appreciate is the fact that no one is 'questioning' that decision. Everyone agrees the decision is correct.

However, it is the question of motive which has never been addressed in any of the three courts this murder trial has progressed through. In fact, evidence in respect of motive was never tendered by the prosecution.

Therefore, as far as I (and Mahathir) are concerned, it is still open season on motive.

So instead of terrorising twitterers, perhaps Khalid may see fit to revisit this issue with a little more fervour than he has shown in the past.

Despite the press releases being launched from the IGP's office, none of them detract from the fact that convicted murderer Sirul Azhar Umar has categorically said no officer from the Polis Di-Raja Malaysia (PDRM) has visited him in Sydney to interview him.

If Khalid disputes this, all he has to do is release the names of those officers who ostensibly attended to Sirul (left) and the exact date and time they clocked in with the detention centre authorities. Inspector Tonny Luggan (the investigating officer in Altantuya's case) says he was not sent to see Sirul in Sydney, so who was?

Khalid is also reported to have said that "Sirul's remark showed the fugitive was doing his utmost to bring disrepute and cast doubt over the investigations into the murder case, his involvement and the criminal justice system."

Yes. That is correct, because it is obvious to everyone that your investigations are incomplete.

As the current series of events appear to translate, Sirul is not disputing his involvement in the murder. All he is saying is that others were involved and they haven't been brought to book so why should he take the rap?

One need not have successfully completed an in-depth course in criminal investigation at Pulapol (Malaysian Police Training Centre) to be able to decipher the glaring holes in this entire saga.

A cursory viewing of a couple of episodes of Miami Vice or CSI New York would suffice in providing a clue as to how the matter ought to have been professionally addressed.

The established facts

Azilah Hadri and Sirul have been convicted of the murder of Altantuya by the highest court in our land. This has therefore been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

Azilah Hadri

In the circumstances, there can be no question that these two gentlemen were in fact responsible for lodging two bullets in this poor lady's head and thereafter detonating some military grade explosives placed on her body causing it to be dissipated in the vicinity of some secondary jungle on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.

Sirul, who has, rather astutely, sought refuge at the Villawood detention centre on the outskirts of Sydney, has candidly admitted he was acting under orders and that he has been made a scapegoat for others who had not been brought to court.

In other words, he has tacitly admitted to the crime and confirmed that there may have been others behind it.

The question is why would Sirul and Azilah (right) have done this for no apparent reason? The courts have been interested only in whether an offence of murder had been committed and not why it was committed.

The prosecution failed to seek or put forth an explanation.

This is really the question which the IGP can provide an answer to if he is so inclined. He certainly has the resources. As long as he possesses the will, he most certainly will find the way.

Khalid, for goodness sake, please, just do your job. At the moment the general public perceive inactivity on your part as yet another ubiquitous and notorious Malaysian cover-up.

May I suggest you simply haul up the following characters and ask them these simple questions:

Azilah - Why did you and Sirul kill someone you didn't even know?

DSP Musa Safri (left) (then aide de camp DPM Najib Razak) - What exactly did you tell Sirul and Azilah to do to that poor Mongolian lady and who exactly asked you to engage their services?

Nasir Safar (Najib’s special officer) - What were you doing driving around in front of Abdul Razak Baginda's house on the evening of Oct 19, 2006, watching Azilah and Sirul abduct Altantuya?

PM Najib - Did you know that four of your staff were involved in this? If so, then why were they?

Deepak Jaikishan (businessman with close ties to Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor - Who asked you to shut private eye P Balasubramaniam up and get him and his family out of Malaysia immediately after he released SD1 (first statutory declaration)? (This should be easy as Deepak has already confessed to all of this).

Rosmah - Was it you? If not, then who?

Johari Razak (Najib’s younger brother) - Did you telephone senior lawyer Cecil Abraham on the evening of July 3, 2008 and ask him to prepare SD2 for Balasubramaniam to sign? If so why, and on whose behalf?

Cecil - Did you receive a telephone call from Johari Razak on July 3, 2008 to prepare SD2? If so, did you?

Sunil Abraham (Cecil’s son, who is also a lawyer) - Did you or did you not, assist your father in preparing SD2 and did you then personally deliver it to the Hilton Hotel, KL Sentral on the morning of July 4, 2008?

Zainal Abidin Muhayat - Were you a commissioner for oaths in 2008 and did you have your office at Zul Rafique and Partners, Lorong P Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur? If so, who sent you to the Hilton Hotel, KL Sentral on July 4, 2008 to attest the signature of one Balasubramaniam on SD2?

Nazim Razak (another brother of Najib) - Were you and your wife at the Curve, Mutiara Damansara late in the night of July 3, 2008? If so did you meet one Balasubramaniam (right) next to the VW showroom?

And if so, did you or did you not, threaten Balasubramaniam to follow the instructions of one Deepak Jaikishan and leave the country with his family immediately, otherwise his family's safety could not be guaranteed?

Najib - Did you instruct Johari and Nazim to arrange, respectively, for SD2 to be prepared and Balasubramaniam's subsequent departure from Malaysia? If so, why was that necessary?

Hamzah Zainuddin (Umno MP for Larut) - Did you, in 2011, offer Balasubramaniam safe passage back to this country and a cash inducement if he pleaded guilty to affirming a false statutory declaration (SD1). If so, why and on behalf of whom?

Khalid, may I also suggest that you contact a senior investigation officer from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) by the name of Abdul Rahman Bachok. He is a very diligent officer and has the entire file on investigations into the circumstances under which Balasubramaniam affirmed SD2. I am sure he will lend you his file and assist you in any way he can.

I believe he is a little annoyed that his file has been closed by the Attorney-General's Chambers. He had put a lot of effort into his investigations.

You may also care to contact the Brickfields police station and ask them why they have not followed up on the police report I lodged on July 8, 2008 in respect of Balasubramaniam's disappearance. I have sent them reminders but there has been no response.

All the above 'persons of interest' and their answers to the questions posed may possibly assist in revealing a motive for the crime. Is there any reason why you, Mr IGP would be disinclined to pursue the matter further and if so what are those reasons?

---

AMERICK SIDHU is a senior lawyer and counsel for late P Balasubramaniam and his widow, A Santamil Selvi. Reproduced courtesy of Malaysiakini.

[First posted 6 April 2015]

101 EAST ~ Murder in Malaysia (a film by Mary Ann Jolley)

Published 10 Sep 2015

Shot, then blown to smithereens with military grade explosives, the 2006 killing of Altantuya Shaariibuu was one of Malaysia’s most sensational murder cases. Even though years have passed since the young Mongolian woman’s death, it is one case that has refused to disappear. If anything, the mystery has deepened.

101 East investigates those who were involved in the case and asks whether the two men convicted of her murder are “fall guys” for others who ordered the killing of Shaariibuu.

Americk Sidhu: The night Altantuya Shaariibuu was murdered....

Americk Sidhu, private investigator Balasubramaniam a/l Perumal's lawyer, 

speaks at Suaram's fundraiser for OpsScorpene, 19 July 2013, at the PJ Civic Center

A Love Song for Altantuya

Why are you dragging your feet, MACC?

Bala speaking with his lawyer Americk Sidhu sometime in October 2009

MACC STUMPED AND DOES NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO

Raja Petra Kamarudin

On 3 December 2009, Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, the Parti Keadilan Rakyat Youth Leader, lodged a report at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya asking them to investigate private investigator P. Balasubramaniam’s latest revelation implicating Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s family in covering up the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu. In response to this report, the MACC asked Shamsul to help locate Bala and to make him available for questioning.

On 4 December 2009, Bala’s lawyer, Americk Sidhu, sent Abdul Rahman Bachok, the investigating officer from the MACC, an e-mail informing him that he is prepared to assist the MACC in securing Bala's attendance at any interview the MACC would like to have with him, but under certain conditions.

On 8 December 2009, lawyer Americk received a phone call from Abdul Rahman Bachok on his mobile phone enquiring whether it was really him who sent that e-mail on 4 December 2009. Americk confirmed that he did and reiterated the contents of the e-mail and suggested that Abdul Rahman respond to it immediately.

However, there was no response from Abdul Rahman, so on 10 December 2009 Americk sent him another email confirming their telephone conversation of 8 December 2009 plus reiterating what he had said in his first e-mail and, again, requested an immediate response.

Until today there is still no response from Abdul Rahman or the MACC and it appears like they are stumped and do not know what to do. To respond would mean that the MACC would have to meet Bala and take his statement, which is clearly something they would not like to do.

The MACC was hoping that Shamsul would not be able to contact Bala and this would mean they could conveniently close the file and declare that they can’t proceed any further since Bala can’t be contacted. But now, since Bala’s lawyer Americk has already communicated with them and has offered to arrange a meeting so that they can take Bala’s statement, they are not able to close the file and stamp it NFA (no further action).

But what do they do? They can’t close the file on the excuse that Bala can’t be contacted since his lawyer has already got in touch with the MACC. Yet they do not dare meet Bala to take his statement as this will not augur well for the Prime Minister. So now they are running around like headless chickens and are praying hard that the matter will die a natural death and Malaysians will soon enough forget about the whole matter.

But the matter will not go away. The MACC has no choice but to respond to Americk’s e-mails. It is just that they are still deciding on how to respond without hurting the future of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t - either way the MACC is damned. And this would mean the damnation of their boss the Prime Minister as well.

Ooo, I just love the way this is turning out.

Appendix

E-MAIL DATED 4 DECEMBER 2009

Dear En. Abdul Rahman,

Re: Report lodged by Shamsul Iskandar Mohd. Akin in relation to the recent disclosure by Balasubramaniam

With reference to the above matter, I wish to inform you that I am counsel representing Mr. Balasubramaniam a/l Perumal. I have been made to understand that you are desirous of interviewing Mr. Balasubramaniam in connection with the report lodged with your commission by En. Shamsul Iskandar Mohd. Akin on the 3rd December 2009.

In this respect I have been instructed to inform you that Mr. Balasubramaniam is prepared to assist you in your investigations and is further prepared to be interviewed by your goodself, with conditions as follows:

1. That the interview be conducted in either Singapore or London.

2. That the time and date of the interview be mutually agreed upon to suit all parties involved.

3. That all necessary air fares be borne by the MACC including those of counsel involved.

4. That all hotel expenses, subsistence, transportation and meals in respect of my client, myself and other counsel necessarily present, be borne by the MACC.

5. That any statement recorded from my client be in the English language and a copy thereof be given to my client.

6. That audio visual recordings of this interview be made by ourselves.

We regret any inconvenience this may cause you but we are sure you are appreciative of the fact that our client is understandably concerned about his safety and welfare if this interview were to be conducted in Malaysia and will not entertain any assurances given by your goodselves or any other party in consideration of doing so.

Please could you respond to me at this email address to enable me to contact my client for instructions in respect of any proposals you may have. Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Americk Sidhu


E-MAIL DATED 10 DECEMBER 2009

Dear En. Abdul Rahman,

Further to my email of the 4 December 2009, and to the subsequent telephone conversation between us on the 8 December 2009, I would be most obliged to receive a response to my offer of assistance in arranging an interview with my client Mr. P. Balasubramaniam.

As you obviously have my mobile number, please feel free to contact me at any time to make the necessary arrangements.

Yours sincerely,

Americk Sidhu