Judgement to be defeated by time?

After 2 years, judgement on Altantuya's killers remain unwritten: Why?


Written by  Wong Choon Mei

More than 4 years have passed but the Malaysian courts are still dragging their feet on a RM100 million lawsuit filed by the parents of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a Mongolian national killed on Malaysian soil allegedly in connection with a corruption case involving Prime Minister Najib Razak and the purchase of Scorpene submarines from French giant DCN.

Even more glaring, more than 2 years have passed since two of Najib's former bodyguards were sentenced to hang for killing Altantuya in a jungle clearing in 2006, but the judgment for the death sentence remains unwritten. Why?

Is the abnormal delay due to the Malaysian judiciary's incompetency and inefficiency, or are the Malaysian courts really as unprofessional their international image suggests and are simply trying to protect some bigwig or other holding the reins of political power, her parents want to know.

A planned maze of delays?

According to Karpal Singh, the lawyer representing Setev Shaariibuu and wife Altantsetseg Sanjaa, no progress has been made into either case. The couple filed the civil lawsuit in  June 2007, while the two cops were sentenced in April 2009.

Among reasons given by the Najib administration is that the cops have appealed their death sentence, while the judge, Mohd Zaki Yasin, who found them guilty has till date not written up his judgement.

The judge's tardiness obviously adds to the delay in securing a hearing date from the Appeals courts. It also delays the lawsuit filed by Altantuya's parents, with government prosecutors citing concerns about 'prejudice' if the case is heard before the cops' appeal is done with.

"I can't see why the judge cannot finish writing his grounds. It has been two years already. I have raised the issue in Parliament but just received a written reply, which is pointless," Malaysiakini reported Karpal as saying.

The world watches and reacts

The two men, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar, are now on the death row. Their trial had been condemed as a travesty of justice in what is largely seen as a bid to protect Najib and to prevent information relating to the kickbacks he alleged received from DCN from leaking out. In a US deplomatic cable recently released by WikiLeaks, US embassy officials in Malaysia minced no words expressing concern at the skewed justice dealt out to the two men.

Indeed, the court stymied all efforts by the defense lawyers to query the accused if they had been paid to kill Altantuya, whom they met only on the night of her murder. This despite Sirul having stated in a report that he had been paid RM100,000 to kill her. As a result, few Malaysians and followers of the case believe in the verdict and speculations remains hot as to the identity of the real "killer or killers".

"It is fair to say that the more the Malaysian judiciary is abused by Najib and his administration, the less faith investors and foreigners will have in our country. They will think that, if even such a high profile case can be covered up, what protection can they ever hope for if they do business here," Batu MP Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

"This should not go on. If Najib is involved, the responsibility falls to his party to haul him up. By keeping, quiet, the entire Umno supreme council is being an accessory to the cover-up. As the ruling party, they should be the first to call for a thorough Royal Commission of Inquiry to find out if there were master-minds involved. This is to clear their president's name and the party's own name, but it looks like they are closing an eye."

Obstacle course for justice

Several obstacles now await the Shaariibuus. According to Karpal, the biggest obstacle and the one most likely to be raised by government prosecutors is that the appeals from Azilah and Sirul were still pending.

"They can complain of prejudice - and whether the judge can remember what he heard during the case and is this why he is delaying his judgment. If they can show prejudice, then the court will reconsider their case. I had a case once where, eventually, a higher charge was substituted with a lower one,” said Karpal.

He promised to bring to Parliament the abnormal delay in the cases. So far, Minister in the PM's department Nazri Aziz has insisted that the Azilah-Sirul delay was due to a backlog of cases. However, former chief justice Zaki Azmi recently announced that the backlog had been cleared.

"The family has been writing to ask when the case will be heard but I continue to tell them that it will take time, as even the appeal case of the two have not been settled yet," said Karpal.

'Mr Cool' Najib to face the heat soon

Altantuya's parents  have been made the guardians of Altantuya's two sons, one of whom suffers from a medical disorder.They are suing the Malaysian government for RM100 million for physical and mental anguish. As executors of Altantuya's estate and on behalf of her dependents, they are also seeking special, aggravated and punitive damages.

The beautiful Altanuya was 28 when she was shot in the face and bombed with C4 explosives to prevent identification. Her ashes still remain in Malaysian, another sore point with her parents who want to take her remains home to Mogolia.

Altantuya, who could speak 4 languages including Russian, had flown in to Kuala Lumpur to collect her UDD500,000 share of the commission allegedly paid by DCN to Najib through his close friend, Razak Baginda. Altanuya is believed to have travelled widely together with Baginda during the DCN negotiations. She is also alleged to have been the mistress to both Baginda and Najib. Baginda has admitted she was his lover, while Najib has sworn on the Quran that he never knew her.

Then the defense minister, Najib hammered through the purchase despite drawing public fire for the exorbitantly-priced submarines in 2002. The acquisition cost Malaysian taxpayers RM7 billion and there is widespread concern that this is not the final price tag as investigations in France have recently unconvered new commissions paid, some of which may be as large as the 114 million euros or RM570 million already paid out to Baginda's Perimekar firm.

Meanwhile, in a separate case filed by Malaysian NGO Suaram in Paris against DCN to compel it to return any illegal commissions paid to Malaysian officials, including Najib, to secure the deal and charged back to Malaysian taxpayers, the noose is closing on the scandal-tainted PM.

On Friday, French lawyer Joseph Breham told a Suaram briefing in London that the French authorities were on the verge of appointing an instructional judge, paving the way for open court hearings in Paris that will once again cast the global spotlight on Najib and Malaysia.

"Mr Cool is gonna face the heat very soon! Ops Scorpene legal briefing in Holborn last nite was told that the case will open very soon in France," Suaram director Cynthia Gabriel said on her Twitter.

Malaysia Chronicle