Azizah: BN cuba tutup isu video Lingam
May 14, 08 3:45pm
Barisan Nasional didakwa cuba menutup isu kontroversi rakaman video peguam VK Lingam apabila menolak usul tergempar isu itu yang ingin dibawa oleh ketua pembangkang di Dewan Rakyat hari ini.
Usul Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail untuk membahaskan laporan siasatan suruhanjaya diraja - yang telah diserahkan kepada Yang di-Pertuan Agong dan belum didedahkan kepada umum - ditolak di peringkat dalam kamar yang dipetua dewan Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia.
"Keputusan yang dipertua Dewan Rakyat untuk menolak usul tergempar tersebut amat mengecewakan," kata presiden PKR, yang juga ahli parlimen Permatang Pauh, dalam satu kenyataan hari ini.
"Malah alasan yang dikemukakan jelas memperlihatkan percubaan kerajaan Barisan Nasional untuk menutup perkara yang berkepentingan umum ini dibahaskan dalam Parlimen."
Tambahnya, usul tersebut perlu dibahaskan segera memandangkan jemaah menteri akan memutuskan sama ada laporan tersebut akan didedahkan atau sebaliknya kepada pengetahuan umum Jumaat ini.
Menurutnya lagi, Pandikar Amin memaklumkan bahawa penolakan usul tersebut menurut peraturan mesyuarat 18(5) yang menyebut "tidak lebih daripada satu usul boleh dibawa pada satu hari persidangan mesyuarat".
Wan Azizah berkata, yang dipertua memaklumkan bahawa terdapat satu usul lain daripada ahli parlimen Ipoh Barat akan dibahaskan hari ini.
"Kami berpendirian bahawa, sekiranya kerajaan Barisan Nasional bersungguh-sungguh ingin memulihkan integriti sistem kehakiman negara,... yang dipertua sewajarnya menangguhkan usul yang penting itu kepada keesokan hari, dan bukannya ditolak mentah-mentah dalam kamar," katanya lagi.
"Perbahasan usul tersebut dalam Dewan Rakyat penting bagi memulihkan kembali keyakinan umum terhadap badan kehakiman negara yang begitu teruk tercemar seperti mana didedahkan dalam video Lingam."
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Press Statement - Royal Commission Report
Kami mengalu-alukan penyerahan Laporan Suruhanjaya Diraja mengenai video klip Lingam kepada Yang Di-Pertuan Agong dan meminta laporan itu segara didedahkan kepada umum.
Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi berhasrat melaksana reformasi badan kehakiman, seperti mana yang beliau umumkan sebelum ini, maka cadangan suruhanjaya tersebut supaya menyiasat dan mendakwa kalangan yang terlibat dapat dilaksanakan.
Kami juga ingin memohon penjelasan bersabit laporan suruhanjaya yang mengaitkan isu ketidak adilan pendakwaan dan penghukuman kes-kes tertentu dibawah bidang kuasa suruhanjaya tersebut.
Amat mendesak sekali untuk kerajaan mengambil tindakan wajar mengembalikan keyakinan terhadap badan kehakiman serta memastikan agar penyiasatan dan pendakwaan salah laku jenayah oleh Jabatan Peguam Negara yang bebas dari gangguan pemerintah.
Ini pastinya melibatkan beberapa percanggahan dan kaedah yang dipertikai yang sewajarnya dipatuhi oleh pihak berwajib dalam penyiasatan kes yang melibatkan pimpinan kanan kerajaan termasuk kes-kes yang tercela seperti pembunuhan dan yang melibatkan dana yang besar.
Rakyat Malaysia prihatin tentang permasalahan tersebut dan justeru itu tidak harus diremehkan oleh pemeritnhn sekarang. Sebarang tindakan yang dianggap tidak bersungguh-sungguh bagi memulihkan kewibawaan badan kehakiman pasti nya tidak akan berhasil.
ANWAR IBRAHIM
We welcome the submission of the report of the Royal Commission on the Lingam video clip to the Yang DiPertuan Agong. We call for its full ventilation to the Malaysian public. If Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi is serious about judicial reform, then he should take this report to its logical culmination which is the investigation and prosecution of those who the report deems to have deviated the course of justice.
We have to ask what the import of the Royal Commission’s findings are with respect to the unjust prosecutions and convictions in cases that fell within the gravitational field of the inquiry conducted by this Commission.It is critical that adequate measures be taken to restore the independence of the judiciary and to ensure the professional and unbiased investigation and prosecution of criminal activity by the Attorney General’s chambers that is free of executive interference.
This would involve serious consideration of the inconsistence and dubious procedures being followed by the authorities right now in the investigation of cases that involve senior government officials and, to mention a few of the more egregious allegations, murder and the massive misappropriation of public fund.
These issues are of deep concern to the Malaysian people and should not be taken lightly by the present administration. A half-hearted attempt at restoration would be as unsatisfactory as no restoration at all.
ANWAR IBRAHIM
May 12, 2008
Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi berhasrat melaksana reformasi badan kehakiman, seperti mana yang beliau umumkan sebelum ini, maka cadangan suruhanjaya tersebut supaya menyiasat dan mendakwa kalangan yang terlibat dapat dilaksanakan.
Kami juga ingin memohon penjelasan bersabit laporan suruhanjaya yang mengaitkan isu ketidak adilan pendakwaan dan penghukuman kes-kes tertentu dibawah bidang kuasa suruhanjaya tersebut.
Amat mendesak sekali untuk kerajaan mengambil tindakan wajar mengembalikan keyakinan terhadap badan kehakiman serta memastikan agar penyiasatan dan pendakwaan salah laku jenayah oleh Jabatan Peguam Negara yang bebas dari gangguan pemerintah.
Ini pastinya melibatkan beberapa percanggahan dan kaedah yang dipertikai yang sewajarnya dipatuhi oleh pihak berwajib dalam penyiasatan kes yang melibatkan pimpinan kanan kerajaan termasuk kes-kes yang tercela seperti pembunuhan dan yang melibatkan dana yang besar.
Rakyat Malaysia prihatin tentang permasalahan tersebut dan justeru itu tidak harus diremehkan oleh pemeritnhn sekarang. Sebarang tindakan yang dianggap tidak bersungguh-sungguh bagi memulihkan kewibawaan badan kehakiman pasti nya tidak akan berhasil.
ANWAR IBRAHIM
We welcome the submission of the report of the Royal Commission on the Lingam video clip to the Yang DiPertuan Agong. We call for its full ventilation to the Malaysian public. If Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi is serious about judicial reform, then he should take this report to its logical culmination which is the investigation and prosecution of those who the report deems to have deviated the course of justice.
We have to ask what the import of the Royal Commission’s findings are with respect to the unjust prosecutions and convictions in cases that fell within the gravitational field of the inquiry conducted by this Commission.It is critical that adequate measures be taken to restore the independence of the judiciary and to ensure the professional and unbiased investigation and prosecution of criminal activity by the Attorney General’s chambers that is free of executive interference.
This would involve serious consideration of the inconsistence and dubious procedures being followed by the authorities right now in the investigation of cases that involve senior government officials and, to mention a few of the more egregious allegations, murder and the massive misappropriation of public fund.
These issues are of deep concern to the Malaysian people and should not be taken lightly by the present administration. A half-hearted attempt at restoration would be as unsatisfactory as no restoration at all.
ANWAR IBRAHIM
May 12, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Fairuz orangnya, lapor akhbar
Fairuz orangnya, lapor akhbar
May 10, 08 1:04pm
Siasatan suruhanjaya diraja telah mengenalpasati bekas seorang ketua hakim negara sebagai orang yang terbabit dalam klip video yang menunjukkan seorang peguam kanan mengatur pelantikan hakim, demikian menurut laporan akhbar hari ini.
Dalam laporan muka depannya, akhbar berbahasa Inggeris, The Star, melaporkan bahawa panel penyiasat telah mengenalpasti Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Halim sebagai orang yang bercakap dengan peguam Datuk VK Lingam dalam klip yang dirakamkan pada tahun 2001 itu.
Panel siasatan lima orang itu, yang mengemukakan laporan yang panjang lebar kepada Yang di-Pertuan Agong semalam, mendapati klip dan perbualan tersebut adalah tulen, lapor akhbar tersebut yang memetik sumber-sumber dari suruhanjaya tersebut.
Pengerusi suruhanjaya diraja itu, Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor telah menyarankan agar laporan penuh siasatan terhadap klip video tersebut diumumkan kepada awam, tetapi perdana menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi berkata, beliau belum membacanya dan oleh itu belum memutuskan mengenainya, lapor akhbar itu lagi.
Mabuk atau cakap besar
Para pegawai suruhanjaya tersebut tidak dapat dihubungi untuk mendapatkan ulasan mengenainya.
Bekas timbalan perdana menteri, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim telah mendedahkan klip video tersebut tahun lalu.
Kerajaan kemudiannya menubuhkan suruhanjaya diraja untuk menyiasat klip video tersebut, dengan memanggil saksi-saksi terkemuka termasuk mantan perdana menteri, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, seorang menteri kabinet dan beberapa bekas ketua hakim, untuk memberi keterangan.
Lingam enggan mengesahkan yang beliau adalah individu yang bercakap dalam video tersebut, dan berkata, jika beliaulah orangnya, sudah pastinya beliau sedang mabuk atau sengaja bercakap besar.
Skandal tersebut telah mencalarkan ime badan kehakiman Malaysia dan persoalan telah ditimbulkan berhubung penghakiman dalam kes-kes yang membabit mereka yang dikaitkan dalam skandal tersebut.
=============================================================
Panel finds Lingam video clip authentic
Reports by SHAILA KOSHY, SHAHANAAZ HABIB, M. MAGESWARI, AUDREY EDWARDS, LOH FOON FONG and MANJIT KAUR
KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam video clip has found that it was former Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim who was talking to prominent lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam on the telephone.
Sources said the five-man panel also found that the video clip was authentic and that the conversation was true in substance.
They said the commission also found that it was lawyer Loh Mui Fah who Lingam was speaking to after his telephone conversation with Fairuz.
Commission chairman Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor presented a two-volume report on the findings to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin at the Istana Negara here yesterday.
The commission commenced its enquiry on Jan 14.
Duty accomplished: The Royal Commission’s secretary Datuk Abdullah Sani Abd Hamid speaking to reporters as he leaves Istana Negara Friday morning. The panel found that it was Ahmad Fairuz (below, right) who was talking to Lingam on the telephone in the video clip.
The sources said the commission also found that there was sufficient evidence of misbehaviour by certain persons mentioned or identified in the clip.
They said the commission found sufficient reason for the relevant authorities to take appropriate action against those implicated for breaches of the Sedition Act, the Penal Code, the Official Secrets Act, the Legal Profession Act and other laws.
They added that the commission was recommending the Government set up a Judicial Appointments Commission and to undertake other necessary reforms.
Sources also said the commission stated that its report was not meant as an indictment against all judges.
Former Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor, who chaired the commission, said yesterday that the King was happy that the enquiry had been completed.
The other four members of the commission were former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong, former Court of Appeal Judge and former Suhakam commissioner Datuk Mahadev Shankar, former Solicitor-General Puan Sri Zaitun Zawiyah Puteh and Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Khoo Kay Kim.
The video clip showing the apparent brokering of judicial appointments and promotions first came to light on Sept 19 last year when PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim released it at a press conference.
Anwar later released two more segments that showed Lingam telling Loh that he had been talking to Fairuz.
On Sept 25, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that an independent inquiry committee would investigate the authenticity of the video clip purportedly made in 2001.
The committee completed its report on Nov 6. It was studied by the Cabinet but never made public.
Based on the recommendations of the committee, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced the setting up of the commission on Dec 12.
At the conclusion of the enquiry on Feb 15, the commission had heard testimony from 21 witnesses and received more than 100 exhibits and over 15 statutory declarations.
Among the prominent witnesses were former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan and retired chief justices Tun Mohamed Eusoff Chin and Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah.
The commission had first fixed March 11 to submit the report to the King but sought two one-month extensions later.
May 10, 08 1:04pm
Siasatan suruhanjaya diraja telah mengenalpasati bekas seorang ketua hakim negara sebagai orang yang terbabit dalam klip video yang menunjukkan seorang peguam kanan mengatur pelantikan hakim, demikian menurut laporan akhbar hari ini.
Dalam laporan muka depannya, akhbar berbahasa Inggeris, The Star, melaporkan bahawa panel penyiasat telah mengenalpasti Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Halim sebagai orang yang bercakap dengan peguam Datuk VK Lingam dalam klip yang dirakamkan pada tahun 2001 itu.
Panel siasatan lima orang itu, yang mengemukakan laporan yang panjang lebar kepada Yang di-Pertuan Agong semalam, mendapati klip dan perbualan tersebut adalah tulen, lapor akhbar tersebut yang memetik sumber-sumber dari suruhanjaya tersebut.
Pengerusi suruhanjaya diraja itu, Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor telah menyarankan agar laporan penuh siasatan terhadap klip video tersebut diumumkan kepada awam, tetapi perdana menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi berkata, beliau belum membacanya dan oleh itu belum memutuskan mengenainya, lapor akhbar itu lagi.
Mabuk atau cakap besar
Para pegawai suruhanjaya tersebut tidak dapat dihubungi untuk mendapatkan ulasan mengenainya.
Bekas timbalan perdana menteri, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim telah mendedahkan klip video tersebut tahun lalu.
Kerajaan kemudiannya menubuhkan suruhanjaya diraja untuk menyiasat klip video tersebut, dengan memanggil saksi-saksi terkemuka termasuk mantan perdana menteri, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, seorang menteri kabinet dan beberapa bekas ketua hakim, untuk memberi keterangan.
Lingam enggan mengesahkan yang beliau adalah individu yang bercakap dalam video tersebut, dan berkata, jika beliaulah orangnya, sudah pastinya beliau sedang mabuk atau sengaja bercakap besar.
Skandal tersebut telah mencalarkan ime badan kehakiman Malaysia dan persoalan telah ditimbulkan berhubung penghakiman dalam kes-kes yang membabit mereka yang dikaitkan dalam skandal tersebut.
=============================================================
Panel finds Lingam video clip authentic
Reports by SHAILA KOSHY, SHAHANAAZ HABIB, M. MAGESWARI, AUDREY EDWARDS, LOH FOON FONG and MANJIT KAUR
KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam video clip has found that it was former Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim who was talking to prominent lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam on the telephone.
Sources said the five-man panel also found that the video clip was authentic and that the conversation was true in substance.
They said the commission also found that it was lawyer Loh Mui Fah who Lingam was speaking to after his telephone conversation with Fairuz.
Commission chairman Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor presented a two-volume report on the findings to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin at the Istana Negara here yesterday.
The commission commenced its enquiry on Jan 14.
Duty accomplished: The Royal Commission’s secretary Datuk Abdullah Sani Abd Hamid speaking to reporters as he leaves Istana Negara Friday morning. The panel found that it was Ahmad Fairuz (below, right) who was talking to Lingam on the telephone in the video clip.
The sources said the commission also found that there was sufficient evidence of misbehaviour by certain persons mentioned or identified in the clip.
They said the commission found sufficient reason for the relevant authorities to take appropriate action against those implicated for breaches of the Sedition Act, the Penal Code, the Official Secrets Act, the Legal Profession Act and other laws.
They added that the commission was recommending the Government set up a Judicial Appointments Commission and to undertake other necessary reforms.
Sources also said the commission stated that its report was not meant as an indictment against all judges.
Former Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor, who chaired the commission, said yesterday that the King was happy that the enquiry had been completed.
The other four members of the commission were former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong, former Court of Appeal Judge and former Suhakam commissioner Datuk Mahadev Shankar, former Solicitor-General Puan Sri Zaitun Zawiyah Puteh and Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Khoo Kay Kim.
The video clip showing the apparent brokering of judicial appointments and promotions first came to light on Sept 19 last year when PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim released it at a press conference.
Anwar later released two more segments that showed Lingam telling Loh that he had been talking to Fairuz.
On Sept 25, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that an independent inquiry committee would investigate the authenticity of the video clip purportedly made in 2001.
The committee completed its report on Nov 6. It was studied by the Cabinet but never made public.
Based on the recommendations of the committee, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced the setting up of the commission on Dec 12.
At the conclusion of the enquiry on Feb 15, the commission had heard testimony from 21 witnesses and received more than 100 exhibits and over 15 statutory declarations.
Among the prominent witnesses were former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan and retired chief justices Tun Mohamed Eusoff Chin and Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah.
The commission had first fixed March 11 to submit the report to the King but sought two one-month extensions later.
Let’s Send Altantuya Murderers to Hell: Malaysian Press
Let’s Send Altantuya Murderers to Hell: Malaysian Press
Saturday, 10 May 2008
(UB Post, Mongolia) - The father of a Mongolian woman brutally killed in Malaysia in 2006, this week told media that Mongolia would break all diplomatic ties with the country unless the Malaysian judicial system solves the murder case justly and fairly.
Shaariibuu made the outburst during a press conference held in Kuala Lumpur, where he arrived for the third time in an attempt to speed up the trial of his daughter Altantuya’s alleged murderers.
He visited Malaysian Parliament House on April 28 and held a press conference to request his lawyer personally deliver his letter addressed to both Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
He also asked media representatives and 222 newly-elected members of the Malaysian parliament to stand up for 10 seconds in memory of his deceased daughter.
He waited at the entrance of the Malaysian Parliament House for half a day to force an impromptu meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
When Abdullah Ahmad Badawi arrived to attend Parliament’s ceremonial session of the swearing-in of new members, he briefly said “Hello, how are you?” before walking away without hearing Shaariibuu’s reply, local media reported.
“I felt the least he could exchange some words and say words of condolences to Shaariibuu for the lost of his daughter,” said Susan Loone, a Malaysian human rights activist.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) stated on April 28 that S.Shaariibuu’s statement to Malaysian press representatives was his own personal view, not a formal position by the Government of Mongolia.
The MFA statement said that the Mongolia government was carefully observing the murder trial, and has sent four letters to the Malaysian side through official channel in the hope that the case would be solved fair and free from any political influence.
“The most recent one was by S.Oyun, Minister of Foreign Affairs. As a Member of Parliament, she sent a letter to Malaysian Parliament, reiterating the case will be solved free and fair,” the statement said.
Altantuya, 28 and a mother of two children, was murdered in October, 2006 in Shah Alam. She was shot twice and then blown up with military-use C4 explosives.
Two police officers, who protected high-profile Malaysia leaders including Deputy Premier Najib Abdul Razak, are accused of the murder and Abdul Razak Baginda, a close political associate of Malaysian Deputy Premier Najib Abdul Razak, is charged with abetting the murder.
Altantuya, a multi-lingual translator working for Abdul Razak Baginda, is believed to have known “too much” about multi-billion Euro weapon deals, especially Malaysian government’s purchase of nuclear submarines from France in which Abdul Razak Baginda negotiated in between.
Altantuya was last seen in front of Abdul Razak Baginda’s house, being pushed into a car and driven away. Her entrance records at the Malaysian immigration computer database were found deleted for unknown reason after she died.
Deputy Premier Najib Abdul Razak’s press secretary, Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad, issued a statement on May 29 that neither the Malaysian deputy prime minister nor his wife, Rosmah Mansor, had anything to do with the murder of the Mongolian translator.
In the statement, the press secretary threatened legal action if allegations in the press and elsewhere of Najib’s involvement in the case continued. The statement also denied that Najib had anything to do with erasing the victim’s immigration records, or that he had ever met her.
Earlier during the trial procedure, Altantuya’s cousin said that she saw a picture of Altantuya at a dinner table with Najib and Abdul Razak.The Malaysian opposition leader, Wan Azizah, said she will take up the issues to Parliament.
“We have 82 members in Parliament now, surely many questions can be asked to make this trial speedy.
“Questions that can only be raised in Parliament are who ordered Altantuya’s killing, who ordered the explosives that killed Altantuya, and was she dead or alive before she was blown,” she said.
“I will never tire of asking them again and again till we get some answers.
“This trial is not only about a single woman, it is about international relations, performance of the court and judges, and the question of our basic human rights - right to free and fair trial,” Azizah said.
Karpal Singh, a prominent Malaysian lawyer representing Shaariibuu, said the slow pace of the trial has taken its toll on Shaariibuu and his family.
“Altantuya’s youngest son, who is 4 years old, is presently in hospital suffering from peripheral nerve paralysis and cannot walk. Further, his wife has just had a heart attack,” added Karpal.
Karpal expressed regret that the Malaysian government had not responded to the Mongolian Government’s letters sent by its Prime Minister to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
He urged Abdullah to pay attention to the letters and relay his response immediately.
“Every effort should be made to ensure the trial is fair and expeditious, fair and free.
“The eyes of the international world are on us. In fact our legal and judicial systems are themselves on trial”, he said.
He also said that he had written to the Malaysian Attorney General, Gani Patail, to ensure that the trial proceeds without any further delay.
The trial, which was delayed a number of times since June 2007, has been delayed again last week until May 5. So far, 75 witnesses have been called.
Saturday, 10 May 2008
(UB Post, Mongolia) - The father of a Mongolian woman brutally killed in Malaysia in 2006, this week told media that Mongolia would break all diplomatic ties with the country unless the Malaysian judicial system solves the murder case justly and fairly.
Shaariibuu made the outburst during a press conference held in Kuala Lumpur, where he arrived for the third time in an attempt to speed up the trial of his daughter Altantuya’s alleged murderers.
He visited Malaysian Parliament House on April 28 and held a press conference to request his lawyer personally deliver his letter addressed to both Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
He also asked media representatives and 222 newly-elected members of the Malaysian parliament to stand up for 10 seconds in memory of his deceased daughter.
He waited at the entrance of the Malaysian Parliament House for half a day to force an impromptu meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
When Abdullah Ahmad Badawi arrived to attend Parliament’s ceremonial session of the swearing-in of new members, he briefly said “Hello, how are you?” before walking away without hearing Shaariibuu’s reply, local media reported.
“I felt the least he could exchange some words and say words of condolences to Shaariibuu for the lost of his daughter,” said Susan Loone, a Malaysian human rights activist.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) stated on April 28 that S.Shaariibuu’s statement to Malaysian press representatives was his own personal view, not a formal position by the Government of Mongolia.
The MFA statement said that the Mongolia government was carefully observing the murder trial, and has sent four letters to the Malaysian side through official channel in the hope that the case would be solved fair and free from any political influence.
“The most recent one was by S.Oyun, Minister of Foreign Affairs. As a Member of Parliament, she sent a letter to Malaysian Parliament, reiterating the case will be solved free and fair,” the statement said.
Altantuya, 28 and a mother of two children, was murdered in October, 2006 in Shah Alam. She was shot twice and then blown up with military-use C4 explosives.
Two police officers, who protected high-profile Malaysia leaders including Deputy Premier Najib Abdul Razak, are accused of the murder and Abdul Razak Baginda, a close political associate of Malaysian Deputy Premier Najib Abdul Razak, is charged with abetting the murder.
Altantuya, a multi-lingual translator working for Abdul Razak Baginda, is believed to have known “too much” about multi-billion Euro weapon deals, especially Malaysian government’s purchase of nuclear submarines from France in which Abdul Razak Baginda negotiated in between.
Altantuya was last seen in front of Abdul Razak Baginda’s house, being pushed into a car and driven away. Her entrance records at the Malaysian immigration computer database were found deleted for unknown reason after she died.
Deputy Premier Najib Abdul Razak’s press secretary, Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad, issued a statement on May 29 that neither the Malaysian deputy prime minister nor his wife, Rosmah Mansor, had anything to do with the murder of the Mongolian translator.
In the statement, the press secretary threatened legal action if allegations in the press and elsewhere of Najib’s involvement in the case continued. The statement also denied that Najib had anything to do with erasing the victim’s immigration records, or that he had ever met her.
Earlier during the trial procedure, Altantuya’s cousin said that she saw a picture of Altantuya at a dinner table with Najib and Abdul Razak.The Malaysian opposition leader, Wan Azizah, said she will take up the issues to Parliament.
“We have 82 members in Parliament now, surely many questions can be asked to make this trial speedy.
“Questions that can only be raised in Parliament are who ordered Altantuya’s killing, who ordered the explosives that killed Altantuya, and was she dead or alive before she was blown,” she said.
“I will never tire of asking them again and again till we get some answers.
“This trial is not only about a single woman, it is about international relations, performance of the court and judges, and the question of our basic human rights - right to free and fair trial,” Azizah said.
Karpal Singh, a prominent Malaysian lawyer representing Shaariibuu, said the slow pace of the trial has taken its toll on Shaariibuu and his family.
“Altantuya’s youngest son, who is 4 years old, is presently in hospital suffering from peripheral nerve paralysis and cannot walk. Further, his wife has just had a heart attack,” added Karpal.
Karpal expressed regret that the Malaysian government had not responded to the Mongolian Government’s letters sent by its Prime Minister to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
He urged Abdullah to pay attention to the letters and relay his response immediately.
“Every effort should be made to ensure the trial is fair and expeditious, fair and free.
“The eyes of the international world are on us. In fact our legal and judicial systems are themselves on trial”, he said.
He also said that he had written to the Malaysian Attorney General, Gani Patail, to ensure that the trial proceeds without any further delay.
The trial, which was delayed a number of times since June 2007, has been delayed again last week until May 5. So far, 75 witnesses have been called.
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