KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 ― Altantuya Shaariibuu will not receive justice despite the death sentence for her two killers, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said when suggesting a comprehensive independent inquiry to uncover “more truths” still hidden in the inscrutable case.
Highlighting the need to defend “what is just and right”, the former law minister also called on Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to back him on his proposal for the full inquiry against the mysterious murder involving the Mongolian model.
“Our country will forever be seen as callous with human lives, with no regard for the truth, until the mystery surrounding Altantuya’s murder is solved,” Zaid wrote in his blog.
“I believe there are things we don’t know about the murder, and the conduct of the police and the AG regarding the matter has hardly been beyond reproach,” he added, using the initials for the Attorney-General.
In its recent decision to reverse the acquittal of the two men over the high-profile 2006 murder, the Federal Court said that circumstantial evidence sufficed for it to send two former police commandos to the gallows for killing Altantuya.
Despite that, Zaid said many people are curious about the “exact instruction” DSP Musa Safri, a former aide of then deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, gave to the two convicted killers. Najib is now prime minister of Malaysia.
“Some are happy with the AG’s explanation for why he chose not to call on Musa during the trial, and obviously the judges are within their rights to convict a murderer without any known motive.”
“But in the real world, nothing like that ever happens. In the real world, a prosecutor would want to present the full story, for only a madman kills for no reason. Everyone else has a motive for doing something,” he said.
In the full 88-page judgment released recently, Justice Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar said the need to establish direct evidence was unnecessary in every criminal case as “common intention” may be adduced from the facts and circumstances of the case, as well as the conduct of the two accused ― former police commando Sirul Azhar Umar and former chief Inspector Azilah Hadri.
In its judgment, the Federal Court also ruled out the need to call for the testimony of Musa, a former aide to Najib, saying it would not have any consequence to the case.
Both Sirul and Azilah were charged with the murder of 28-year-old Altantuya in 2006 and convicted in 2009.
They were freed after the appellate court acquitted them in 2013, but last week, the Federal Court reversed the acquittal and sent them back to hang, marking the end to the eight-year saga.
