MORE PICS–ALTANTUYA SHAARIIBUU MURDER TRIAL Rescheduled to June 4- 29 07 under Trial Judge Judicial Comm. Datuk Mohd Zaki-took over Datuk KN Negara
Part VII
MORE PICS–ALTANTUYA SHAARIIBUU MURDER TRIAL Rescheduled to June 4- 29 07 under New Trial Judge Judicial Comm. Datuk Mohd Zaki-who took over from Datuk KN Negara
UPDATE:
DNA Test Results On Altantuya's Son To Be Out Saturday
"NHUB officials told me that it would take about two or three days to conduct a thorough DNA test. I have learnt the final result of the test is very vital for the prosecution on the June trial, to determine the real father of Altanshagai," he told Bernama here Monday. Abdul Rahman said the team would be leaving this
On Sunday, Bernama reported Altanshagai's health condition was turning for the worse
[…]
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UPDATE:
Altantuya's Father Pleased Trial Date Brought Forward
KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 (Bernama) -- "I am very pleased to hear that the trial of my daughter's murder has been brought forward," said Dr Shaaribuu Setev, the father of murdered Mongolian model, Altantuya, whose body was blown to bits by explosives at a secondary forest near the Subang Dam in Puncak Alam, Shah Alam last November. The Shah Alam High Court had originally fixed March 10 next year for the trial because of a heavy backlog of cases. But in light of the Judiciary having hired more Judicial Commissioners recently, the date now has been brought forward to June 4 this year and 25 days have been set aside for the hearing. "The Mongolian consul in
It gives me great relief to hear this," he told Bernama when contacted by telephone in
The trio are alleged to have conspired to commit the murder at Bangunan Getah Asli in Jalan Ampang here between
"Only God knows my ordeal." "I have strong belief and trust in the Malaysian judicial system and that the perpetrators will pay for their heinous acts," he said in an emotion-choked voice. He said that a grand funeral for Altantuya, his eldest daughter, had been planned early this year but the family decided to postpone it to after the trial was completed. "I want to collect all the remaining bone fragments of her still being held by the police in
Meanwhile, Syed Abdul Rahman told Bernama today that a Malaysian team comprising two police officers and a forensics specialist from the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (KLH) would be leaving for
= = =For More info on "hydrocephalus",(head swelling, see 1st Post H E R E)
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= = = = =UPDATE from SUN, a more detailed account
Mongolian's murder hearing set for June 4 to 29; R.Surenthira Kumar; SUN
SHAH ALAM (March 9, 2007): A tug-of-war unfolded between the lawyers representing the two police personnel and the political analyst in the Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial mentioned in the High Court here today.
ABOVE: Lawyer Zulkifli Nordin briefing newsmen on what happened in court today
Lawyers Zulkifli Nordin and Kamarul Hisham, representing C/Insp Azilah Hadri, 30, and Kpl Sirul Azhar Umar, 35, respectively told Judicial Commissioner Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin they needed adequate time to prepare their case and applied for the case to be heard in June. The third accused, Abdul Razak Abdullah, 46, charged with abetting the two policemen in the murder, through his lawyer Wong Khian Kheong, however insisted for an early hearing date.
“Due to public interest, the trial should begin as soon as possible, probably early next month,”aid Wong. Deputy Public Proseutor Salehuddin Saidin, who earlier addressed the court, said “today’s mention is to fix the trial date”. “All the lawyers must be free for the case to carry on,” said Salehuddin when asked outside the courtroom why the DPP’s office did not voice any objection to the two policemen’s lawyers’ request for a June trial date. There was also another new development during the proceedings when Wong informed the court that new solicitors have been appointed to represent Abdul Razak.
He named the solicitors from the law firm Norendra & Yap. “However I will (still) remain as a counsel for Abdul Razak,” said Wong. Mohd Zaki said the court had received a letter from Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill, the firm which Wong was attached with, that it no longer represented Abdul Razak. He also told the lawyers, with reference to the letter received from the Deputy Registrar which stated that following the appointment of three new Judicial Commissioners, the cases scheduled for end of the year and next year have been re-distributed because there were now six judges to handle criminal cases. He said the move was also in line with the Chief Justice’s circular for courts to bring forward and dispose pending cases.
“Moreover, the circular stressed that cases involving government servants should be given priority. There are about 200 such cases here and this is one of them. Even though Abdul Razak is not a public servant, his case has been brought forward because he is being jointly tried with the two policemen. Lawyer Karpal Singh, who is holding a watching brief for Altantuya’s family and the Mongolian government sought an explanation the reason for the change in the judge as it was previously heard before Justice Datuk K.N.Segara. “Do you have any problems with me hearing the case?” Mohd Zaki asked. “No, no problems, it is because of public apprehension.” Karpal Singh responded. Mohd Zaki said the reasons were as stated earlier and the case was transferred to him because Segara had more part-heard cases to be disposed off compared with him.
“Do the others have any problems with me hearing the case?” Mohd Zaki asked, and Salehuddin responded with “ there was none”. The courtroom drama again focused on the “battle” between Kamarul, Zulkifli and Wong over the fixture of the trial date. Kamarul said he and Zulkifli require ample time to prepare their case and setting an earlier date will result in them having insufficient time for them to have a strong line of defence. “We are sole proprietors and have been giving emphasis on other cases as this case was initially set for March next year and the sudden change has affected our preparations,” added Zulkifli. Wong said his client has given firm instructions for his case to be heard and disposed off as soon as possible. “My client wants to be vindicated as soon as possible,” he added. He said the request for an early date was based on:
- the Chief Justice’s directive to bring forward and dispose cases involving government servants;
- the case involved the death of a foreigner and the interested parties have to travel far to attend the proceedings;
- the case is of public interest; and his client’s unprecedented move, to file and reveal in open court an affidavit detailing his relationship with the victim, which was aimed at assisting the court to expedite the case.
“I understand my learned friend’s concern, but I donít think hearing the case on a later date will cause any ‘dents’ to public interest,”Kamarul rebutted. Zulkilfi said it was only fair for the court to give him and Kamarul adequate time to prepare their case fully as the offence carried the death penalty upon conviction. “If Wong’s client has firm instructions, so do I. My client has firmly told me to begin in June,” said Zulkifli. Azilah, Sirul Azhar and Abdul Razak were not present in court today. Their families were, however, present to witness the proceedings. Mohd Zaki said usually it was the accused who would seek for early trial, but it was the other way round in this case.
“We don’t want any hiccups to occur during the trial and for the case to be disrupted,” he stressed. Mohd Zaki then asked Salehuddin how long time he would require to ready his case, to which the DPP said about a month as they will be calling between 30 and 40 witnesses. Ahmad Zaki also reminded there was another murder trial involving a government servant set in April and he would not want to change the dates set for that case. He asked Zulkifli if he could go on at end of April and May, but the lawyer insisted that he could not as he will be away, but did not tell the court the details. “Are you saying you will not be present if I set the case on May 14?” asked Mohd Zaki. Zulkifli responded with a “Yes”. Mohd Zaki also said it would be court vacation in June but he was willing to forego the leave to attend to the case. “We will be ready from June 4 and can proceed full swing until the end,” said Zulkifli. Mohd Zaki, after much deliberation, finally set June 4 to 29 for hearing. “No excuses for postponements will be entertained until the completion of the case,” he added before continuing to hear another case.
There was a commotion at the end of today's hearing when Datuk Zaki was about to hear another case.
ABOVE:Rowena, the daughter of Abdul Razak started crying aloud in the courtroom (probably having to endure another 3 months of separation from dad' remand in Sungai Buluh prision). Her mother apologized for her condition and escorted her back home via the Mercedes Benz (BELOW). Meanwhile the judge adjourned hearing for 10 mins.
Many are questioning WHY there has been a change of Trial Charge. In today’s hearing, Judicial Commissioner Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin who took over from judge Datuk K.N. Segara, gave two reasons why the case has been expedited.
- Appointment of three new judicial commissioners to hear the backlog criminal cases in Shah Alam High Court.
- Case was transferred to him as Segara has a lot of partly heard cases to handle compared to him.
Are these all the valid reasons? What is strange is that Datuk K N Segara is still in the Shah Alam High Court and, there was no proper application to transfer the case to another judge. Also in normal circumstances if an accused person is not happy with a particular trial judge, the proper procedure is to make an application that the said judge be removed. An in this case, was there such an application?
Even the counsel Zulkifli Noordin for the two accused (ABOVE) of murder in the case was informed about the change on 7th March and was not involved in any such application.
This change in “choosing the judge” must have been ordered by the higher ups in the judiciary or from the Executive. The truth is hard to determine.
ABOVE: Breaking News from Msiakini; None of the accused were present in court this morning for the mention of date.Altantuya's Murder Trial Brought Forward To June 4
SHAH ALAM, March 9 (Bernama) -- The Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial has been brought forward before a Judicial Commissioner to June 4, this year. Judicial Commissioner Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin who took over from judge Datuk K.N. Segara, fixed the new date after the case came up for mention Friday.He fixed one month from June 4 untill June 29 for the trial. The same High Court had earlier fixed four weeks from March 10 next year for the trial as the court had too many backlog cases to hear. Mohd Zaki said the trial of the case had been expedited following the appointment of three new judicial commissioners to hear the backlog criminal cases in Shah Alam High Court.
He also said that the case was transferred to him as Segara has a lot of partly heard cases to handle compared to him. Abdul Razak Baginda, 46, a political analyst is accused of abetting two policemen from the special unit force to murder Altantuya. The case attracted wide publicity following the discovery of the remains of the 28-year-old Altantuya in a forest in Puncak Alam here, in November last year. Her body had been blown to bits with explosive.
Abdul Razak (pictured ABOVE on Jan 19 07)allegedly committed the offence between 9.54 am and 11.05 am on Oct 18 last year, at level 10 Bangunan Getah Asli in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.
C/Insp Azilah Hadri, 30, and Kpl Sirul Azhar Umar, 35, were accused of murdering the woman in
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Altantuya murder trial brought forward to June 4 this year
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Altantuya murder case: Karpal urges police to use affidavit to reopen case
Abdul Razak said, adding that he gave her money on several occasions, including US$10,000 (RM35,000) on three occasions. This money, he said, was to meet the medical expenses of Altantuya's mother, who was suffering from cancer.Abdul Razak said sometime towards the end of 2005, he stopped giving her money and lodged a police report on Oct 23 last year as "I could not tolerate her nuisance". Karpal, who is also the Bukit Gelugor MP, called on the police to record the statement from the Commissioner for Oaths who affirmed Abdul Razak's affidavit.
"The commissioner would certainly be an important prosecution witness at the trial," he said. "The affidavit is a sworn statement and amounts to evidence as if given from the witness box under oath. "The evidence in the affidavit is stronger than a cautioned statement, which is not given under oath." Karpal said the affidavit itself seemed like a confession and this led to judge Datuk K.N. Segara to comment that "there is also no dispute that the accused, on face value, abetted in the crime".
The judge also said Abdul Razak and Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, one of the men charged with her murder, were in constant communication before Altantuya was killed. Karpal called on the police to investigate Abdul Razak's assertion that Azilah admitted he had killed six to seven people. "This incriminating statement is compounded by the fact that Azilah is a chief inspector attached to the Special Action Squad." Karpal said every effort should be made to bring to justice those responsible for Altantuya's murder. The case created a media frenzy after it was reported that Altantuya was shot before her body was blown up using explosives. Her bone fragments were found in a jungle clearing near Shah Alam. Abdul Razak is charged with abetting Azilah, 30, and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 35, in Altantuya's murder. Azilah and Sirul were alleged to have committed the offence in Bukit Raja, Petaling, between
= = == =Some interesting read on the Malaysian political scene . The darker side of politics in play
Mongolian model murder a potential time bomb? –an Incisive Opinion by Kim Quek; Jan 17,
Anwar Ibrahim's recent call for transparency and for widening police. Investigations into the Mongolian model's murder is a stark reminder that all is not well with the Malaysian government's handling of this murder case. In fact, the standard of transparency and accountability falls so short of that practiced by a democratic country that once again we are painfully reminded of the perversion of justice that took place in the infamous persecution of Anwar Ibrahim more than eight years ago. The injustice then was to condemn and persecute an innocent man. This time, perhaps it is to provide shelter to one guilty of murder.As in the earlier Anwar case, democratic institutions - police, attorney general's chamber, judiciary and the media - seemed to have been mobilised again to act in concert in a critical damage control exercise, upon which may hinge the fate of the power structure of the country.
However, before dwelling into the details, let us take a perspective view of the case. At the heart of the scandal is a beautiful Mongolian girl, Altantuya Shaariibuu, who was rather erroneously known as a model, but in fact a multi-lingual interpreter and translator - Chinese, Russian, English and French - for which she travelled frequently. She was alleged to have been a lover of Abdul Razak Baginda, a political analyst and a confidante of the Deputy Prime Minister cum Minister of Defence Najib Tun Razak. The former travelled extensively and often accompanied the latter in his trips overseas.The gravity of Altantuya's bizarre murder - shot and blown to pieces - looms from its indirect link to Najib, as two of his bodyguards were charged for killing and Razak Baginda for abetting; and the explosives used were no ordinary explosives, but high power C-4 which was in the exclusive custody of the ministry of defence. Compounding this gravity was another scandal also indirectly linked to Najib via Razak Baginda, whose company was the dubious recipient of an exorbitant commission paid out in connection with the multi-billion purchase of submarines by the ministry of defence.
So Najib (pictured ABOVE, in his recent trip to Japan, Mar 2007), who in many ways acts like the de facto leader of the country, has become the ultimate focal point of two explosive scandals, albeit linked to him indirectly. That this scandal touches the nerve centre of the top political hierarchy is apparent from the extraordinary treatment accorded to it by the police, attorney general's chamber, the judiciary and the local media. The local media's collaboration was most recently demonstrated in the blackout of news on the Anwar Ibrahim press conference on Jan 10, where apart from calling for wider probe, he also bombarded the authorities with a series of incisive questions which would have hit headlines if
THE POLICE
Starting with the police, why was Najib not queried? (Reuters on Jan 10 quoted a government source saying that no one else had been questioned other than the three accused). The police had no possible justification not to question Najib, as the alleged murderers and the explosives were in his domain. Keep in mind that these bodyguards are from the Special Action Force where they were trained for extreme duties and absolute obedience and that they had no apparent motive of their own to annihilate the girl.
Take note that Razak Baginda was not charged for ordering but abetting the murder (he couldn't have ordered any way since he had no authority over them). So who had ordered the bodyguards to abduct the girl while she was attempting to enter Razak's house and later killed her? Shouldn't the police have been curious to find out some answers from the bodyguards' immediate boss (Najib) as to why and how they had embarked on such a violent venture? What inference can we draw when the police failed to act as it should have in regards to Najib? Or do the police know what the public don't?
And why have the police been extremely tight-lipped over details of the case, with the head of the criminal investigations department (Christopher Wan) remaining steadfastly mum?
PROSECUTOR AND JUDICIARY
Murder is a non-bailable offence. When Razak was granted bond (without security) on Nov. 23 and again extended on bail on Dec. 14 on the questionable ground of having had bronchitis, both the prosecutor and the judge were seen as acting with partiality in favour of the accused, as such bail was rarely granted, safe on grounds of extreme health hazard. On Jan. 5, Razak's application for extension of bail was rejected, to the shock of almost everyone. However, the rejection was not against the application per se, rather it was against the presentation in oral form. The judge then fixed Jan. 19 to hear the written application. However, impatient to wait till Jan. 19, Razak appealed and was granted a hearing by the Court of Appear on Jan. 11. The Appellate Court rejected the appeal on the ground that there was no judgment for the court to deliberate on, as the high court had yet to hear the application on Jan. 19.
Apart from his dereliction of duty in failing to oppose bail, the deputy public prosecutor (Salehuddin Saidin) from the A.G.'s chamber had also engaged in improper conduct when he ruled out the possible involvement of parties other than the three accused when the investigation is manifestly incomplete and the self-motivation of the killers ostentatiously lacking. His overzealous push for such a premature conclusion has thus fanned further speculation on the existence of a real master mind behind the three accused. Perhaps what disappoints the public most is the distant date fixed for the hearing -
For an important case like this, where the integrity of the highest strata of the government is brought into question at home and abroad, the court has every justification to allocate priority, since it serves public interests to have justice served and law and order restored to regain public confidence at the earliest. Here again, we are reminded of the contrast in treatment accorded by the court between the Anwar Ibrahim trial for corruption (no money involved) and the present murder trial. If the Anwar trial could commence in just over a month from his arrest, why can't the present trial, which involves an offence many times more serious, be also given an expeditious trial? Does this not confirm the oft-repeated accusation that our judiciary acts under the dictates of the Executive - insignificant charges could be tried by express, while trials for grave charges could be pushed off, if such judicial arrangements so suit the political interests of the power that be?
SUBMARINE SCANDAL
The key to any murder case is the motive. This is where we have to bring in the submarines deal scandal, for Altantuya's apparent part in it may provide an important lead to the motivation of this murder. Reports from
Based on an interview with Altantuya's father Professor Shaariibuu (ABOVE), a report states that the Professor has established from Altantuya's documents that the latter had been rendering translation and secretarial services to Razak, interpreting for him in high level meetings and negotiation. In particular, she had assisted Razak in the submarines deal.
The Professor further stated that the main purpose of Altantuya's recent trip to
Excessive as the figure might sound, the true hidden leakage could be very much more if consideration is given to the fact that the sales was not conducted through competitive tenders. Being the interpreter, who happened to be a charming person, Altantuya could have played an important role in sealing the deal. And considering that this is a deal where money flows freely, it would not be far fetched to imagine that Altantuya could have been promised a more than generous fee, in addition to privy to information that could not be leaked out without causing grievous damage to others.
Under such circumstances, Altantuya could be looked upon as an unwelcome and dangerous visitor if there were irreconcilable differences between her and her Malaysian clients, whether these arose from pecuniary conflicts or sexual entanglement as widely rumoured. It is obvious that investigations into the murder case cannot be meaningfully pursued without at the same time probing into the submarine deal scandal. In this connection, the participation. of our docile Anti-Corruption Agency is long overdue. This is the time that Prime Minister must show his leadership by personally ensuring that these two law-enforcing bodies directly under his portfolios - police and ACA - work hand in hand to expeditiously secure a full and fair investigation into the murder case as well as to bring the corrupt to book in the submarine corruption scandal. He should further ensure that the judiciary and the attorney general's chamber be allowed to deliver justice without interference from the Executive.
= = == =for related last post (PART VI) (Jan 20 07) Go H E R E On
MORE PICS-MURDER Altantuya Shaariibuu; SENSATIONAL Details in Bail AFFIDAVIT; Abdul Razak Relationship with Her; Meeting- Azilah to “get rid” of Her
= = = == = == = == or the next POST (Part VIII) H E R E OnMORE PICS & (a Video link) of ALTANTUYA SHAARIIBUU (the murdered Mongolian); PICTURES of Early Childhood, Adulthood and Motherhood Life & TWO Children; Video Narrated by Father; She departed sensationally, distressing her parents
posted by multidimid at 1:59 PM
1 Comments:
A great deal of worthwhile data for me!
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