Altantuya's murder - RCI needed

COMMENT | As the complainant in the French courts regarding the Scorpene submarines scandal, Suaram is encouraged by the breakthrough in the Altantuya murder case through the latest statutory declaration (SD) by Azilah Hadri, the former police special action force personnel serving his death sentence for the murder. In this SD, he alleges that he carried out the “covert operation” based on the instructions from above, pointing the finger at the former deputy prime minister, Najib Abdul Razak and his then associate, Abdul Razak Baginda with the connivance of DSP Musa Safri, aide-de-camp to the deputy prime minister (DPM) at that time.

It is high time the Altantuya murder case and the Scorpene submarines scandal be reopened because there were just too many unanswered questions and peculiarities in the Altantuya murder trial that demanded answers. And lest this latest development in the case is twisted into a Pakatan Harapan conspiracy to put away a pesky former PM who is proving to be quite a nuisance to the Harapan government, nothing short of a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into the Altantuya murder and the motive for her murder will do. This is necessary in the light of recent exposes which question the credibility and objectivity of the authorities.

The prosecution of the murder trial was disgraceful from the start, with the failure to establish the motive for Altantuya’s murder the most questionable of all. Through the case, the laboured attempts by both prosecution and defence to obstruct the probe into any involvement of the then defence minister was also most bewildering.

There were too many inconsistencies in the Altantuya case which warrant truthful answers, for example, is it true that all records of Altantuya's entry and presence in Malaysia were erased from the computers of the Immigration Department? Among the "strange" twists was the sudden removal of the presiding judge before the trial started without giving a plausible explanation to the lawyers, not to mention the head of the prosecution team was changed at the eleventh hour. Finally, defence lawyers for the three accused kept changing with one walking out on the first day of the hearing, charging that "third parties" were interfering in his work. 

Public doubt, however, worsened after both defence lawyers and prosecutors cut off a witness (Altantuya’s cousin) from testifying further when she revealed that the victim had shown her a photograph of herself, Razak Baginda, Najib and "others" having lunch in a Paris restaurant. The court, too, did not ask the witness to produce the photograph. The acquittal of the two former bodyguards of then defence minister, Najib, by the Appeals Court in 2013 was the ultimate in the "surprises" that typified the Altantuya murder trial since 2006.

Such conflicting information can easily be probed by the RCI.

It was brought up in the Malaysian Parliament that €114 million (RM500 million) had been paid to a Malaysia-based company called Perimekar, for “coordination and support services” for the submarines transaction. Perimekar was wholly owned by another company, KS Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd, which in turn was controlled by Najib's aide, Razak Baginda. Baginda’s wife Mazlinda was the principal shareholder in this company. Perimekar was registered in 2001, a few months before the signing of the contracts for the sale and the company did not appear to have the financial resources to complete the contract. None of the directors and shareholders of Perimekar had any experience in the construction or maintenance of submarines.

Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old Mongolian translator, had allegedly participated in negotiations over the purchase of the submarines. By her own admission in a letter found after her death, she was allegedly attempting to blackmail Razak Baginda for US$500,000. She was shot in October 2006 and her body was blown up with military explosives by two bodyguards attached to Najib's office after Razak Baginda went to Najib's chief of staff, Musa Safri.

A private detective hired by Razak Baginda to protect him from Altantuya’s advances filed a statutory declaration after the trial alleging Najib was involved.  He later retracted this story in a second statutory declaration. The detective, P Balasubramaniam, said later that he was forced to leave Kuala Lumpur. He eventually emerged from hiding in India to say that he had been offered RM5 million (US$1.57 million) by a businessman close to Najib's wife to leave town. He also said he had met Najib's younger brother, Nazim and was told to recant his testimony.

In September 2008, during the course of the "Karachi Case" also involving DCN, the notebooks of Gérard-Philippe Menayas, a former chief financial officer of DCN, who was indicted in the case, also confirmed the suspicions of hidden commissions. In his memorandum, Menayas mentioned the Malaysian submarine contract as follows:

"Since the entry into force of the OECD Convention regarding the fight against corruption in September 2000, only two contracts have been signed; the first with India, and the second with Malaysia in 2002. These two contracts are the result of commercial actions undertaken prior to the OECD Convention. Furthermore, they are both suspected of non-compliance with this convention. I have evidence to support this”.

Furthermore, it appears there were three commissions instead of one paid for the sale of submarines. In addition to that of 114 million euros, there are two further instalments, one paid by DCN to the commercial networks of Thalès, for over 30 million euros, corresponding to "commercial fees relating to the negotiation and execution of the contract". This second commission was paid by Thalès to a recipient, who remains unknown, in order to convince the Malaysian government of the need to conduct additional work. The third commission was for 2.5 million euros.

After Suaram had filed an initial suit at the Paris court in 2009, the state prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin then opened a preliminary investigation. At the time, it was suspected that a bribe of 114 million euros had been paid by the company Armaris (a subsidiary of DCNI and Thalès) to Malaysian parties through the company Perimekar.

SUARAM will not rest until justice has been done in the murder of Altantuya. We believe that her murder is linked to the millions of ringgit in commissions associated with the RM7 billion Scorpene submarines deal. 

Thus, Suaram calls for the urgent establishment of a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into the murder of Altantuya with terms of reference that include the motives for her murder and her links to the Scorpene submarines deal. Members of the committee must be seen to be independent and respected members of the judiciary and the community. 

Furthermore, to avoid the sad fate of many other RCIs in the past, we hope that this RCI will report and recommend in no uncertain terms the steps to be taken to bring the guilty parties to stand trial so that there will finally be justice for Altantuya.

KUA KIA SOONG is Suaram adviser.

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