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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

There is sufficient evidence for the Attorney-General Chambers to take a fresh look at the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case.

Dust off the file


The ghost of Altantuya Shaariibuu has returned to haunt the house of Najib Tun Razak. She has also cast a long shadow over the political landscape at a time when the country will be choosing a new government. 

Will the voters root for Najib to anoint him as the prime minister again? The man who is implicated in the murder of the Mongolian model? 

The murder case will not go away simply because justice has not been sufficiently done to the woman whose horrific death continues to prick the national conscience.

The Bar Council has established that there is enough proof to “reopen investigations” into the 2006 murder case. This is a statement that cannot be dismissed or ignored. 

It contains the seeds of a serious charge that Najib had something to do with the events that led to the demolition of the Mongolian national. 

What is the fresh evidence that could put Najib in the dock? And his wife Rosmah Mansor on the witness stand?

The new evidence is based on the revelations of carpet trader Deepak Jaikishan, private investigator P Balasubramaniam, and lawyer Americk Singh Sidhu. 

It was Deepak who first lit the fuse that blew the case wide open. 

The businessman confessed that he was the one responsible for persuading Balasubramaniam to retract the first statutory declaration (SD). 

The first SD was the most damaging to Najib: Balasubramaniam revealed that Najib knew Altantuya intimately, and thus implicated the man in her murder.

With the scene darkening, Rosmah stepped in and asked Deepak to urge Balasubramaniam to write a second SD to retract the allegation made in the first SD. 

Under the “circumstances”, the private investigator complied with her wishes. 

But who prepared the second SD? Americk, who was Balasubramaniam’s lawyer, made his appearance with a damning statement: he claimed that a senior lawyer, Cecil Abraham, had prepared the second SD on instruction from Najib. 

Then Balasubramanian swore that what he stated in the first SD was the truth.

Sword of justice

Balasubramaniam has passed away. If the case is reopened, the prosecution may attack his integrity, knowing full well that a dead man cannot refute. 

But by reopening the case, it would be a moral victory for Balasubramaniam. It would also imply that Najib, indeed, is inextricably linked to a murder that all Malaysians want to see the chapter on it closed once and for all. 

The ball is now in the court of the Attorney-General’s Chambers. 

Will Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail have the gumption and the iron will to stare down on Najib and proceed to reopen the file on the Altantuya murder case?

The Bar Council has made a valid point: the “question of motive had been unsatisfactorily dealt with by the High Court”. 

In fact, the court’s argument that “motive although relevant has never been essential to constitute murder” is deeply flawed. 

There must be a reason why Altantuya was brutally killed. 

Two police officers have been found guilty of murdering her, but what drove them to this cold-blooded rage? What reasons did they have to use explosives to blow up the Mongolian woman to smithereens? 

They never knew her and they now stand in death’s row.

A new trial must uncover the motive behind the killing. The condemned duo will have a chance to seek justice, and to at least point the fingers at the mastermind or the evil-minded ring of conspirators who ordered them to carry out their abominable mission. 

They cannot go to their death to save the skin of the real perpetrator or killers. They must tell their story and let a stern and impartial judge decide where the sword of justice will fall. 

Let those whose hands are soiled by the blood of Altantuya tremble as the truth makes its way into the open.

The Bar Council has sounded the bell and Gani cannot close his ears. He can bring out the file and closely examine the merits of the new evidence. 

He can and must do more: haul up Najib and Rosmah to stand in the dock and answer all the serious charges levelled against them. 

But Gani will not do it because it is simply unthinkable to drag the most powerful First Couple to the court.

The office of the attorney-general appears to be subservient to the office of the prime minister. Selective justice seems to be the moving spirit behind the actions of the AG’s Chambers. Gani roars when going after lesser mortals. 

He turns tail and retreats when he must lay his hands on the prime minister. He morphs into an instant paper tiger.

It is left to the Bar Council and other like-minded seekers after truth to drum up support for a new trial. They must insist that Najib be brought down a notch or two to stand on a commom plank and plead his case. 

If the whole country keeps up the drumbeat for justice, even Gani or his successor will no choice but to dust off the file and go after Najib – whether in or out of power – so that justice will be seen to have been done.

Also read:
‘Enough proof to reopen Altantuya case’

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