A Malaysian police commander sentenced to hang in
Kuala Lumpur has broken his silence from Sydney's Villawood detention centre,
saying he was ordered to kill a Mongolian socialite at the centre of high-level
corruption allegations in Malaysia.
Sirul Azhar Umar said he was acting under orders
when he twice shot glamorous 28-year-old translator Altantuya Shaariibuu in the
head as she begged for the life of her unborn child and then wrapped her body
with military explosives and blew her up.
"I was under
orders. The important people with motive are still free," Sirul, a former
bodyguard of Malaysia's prime minister Najib Razak, told the Malaysiakini
news portal by telephone.
"It is not like
I do not love the police (force) or the country, but I acted under
orders," he said.
Sirul told Malaysiakini
he has been negotiating a tell-all interview with Australian television
stations where he is considering revealing why he and police colleague Azilah
Hadri killed Ms Shaariibuu in a jungle patch on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.
"I haven't
decided (on whether) to do the interview," he said.
Allegations have
simmered for eight years that Ms Shaariibuu was murdered to keep her quiet
about purported kick-backs to high-level Malaysian officials over the US$2
billion purchase of two French and Spanish-built Scorpene submarines when Mr
Najib was defence minister.
Ms Shaariibuu,
described as sophisticated jet-setting party girl, worked as a translator in
the later stages of negotiations.
Mr Najib strongly
denies ever meeting Ms Shaariibuu or having any link to her and his government
denies any wrongdoing in the submarine purchases, which are the subject of an
investigation by magistrates in France.
A motive for the
murder of Ms Shaariibuu was never revealed during the trial of Sirul and Azilah
who were sentenced to hang after Malaysia's highest court on January 13 upheld
a previous conviction that had been dismissed by another court on a legal
technicality.
Sirul told a judge
during his trial he was "the black sheep who has been sacrificed to
protect unnamed people."
Azilah is on death
row in a Kuala Lumpur prison awaiting execution but Sirul had travelled to
Queensland months before the January hearing where he was detained on
immigration charges on January 20.
Australia has made
clear it will not agree to a Malaysian request to extradite Sirul unless the
government in Kuala Lumpur gives an undertaking he will not be executed,
leaving him facing prolonged detention in Villawood.
Malaysian authorities
have said they will take legal action to try to overturn Australia's decision.
Approval would be
required from Australia's immigration department for Sirul, a 43-year-old
divorced father of two, to give a television interview in Villawood that could
be politically explosive in Malaysia.
He told Malaysiakini
he was doing fine in the detention centre and is allowed access to a mobile
telephone as well as the internet.
Sirul also claimed he
had never met Abdul Razak Baginda, a former friend and adviser to Mr Najib, who
was initially charged with abetting the murder but released before any evidence
was led against him.
Ms Shaariibuu was a
former lover of Mr Baginda and admitted in a letter found after her murder she
allegedly wanted US$500,000 to remain silent about her knowledge of the
submarine deal.
Mr Baginda is
believed to be living in Britain.
Lindsay Murdoch SMH
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