Malaysia’s Ex-police chief denies Al Jazeera's Altantuya allegations

KUALA LUMPUR: Tan Sri Musa Hassan has denied allegations, which resurfaced from an Al Jazeera documentary,  that murdered Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu was somehow linked to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Musa, who was Inspector-General of Police during the investigation into Altantuya's murder in 2006, said the allegations raised in the documentary aired last Thursday were fictitious and not based on actual facts.

"For your information, I am not siding with the Government or Opposition, or trying to protect anybody.

"I felt called upon to clarify certain details of the case, as they have been reported wrongly in the media from day one," the former top cop told a press conference, Monday.

Musa proceeded to rehash the details of the case, saying that the investigation was first opened after a missing persons report was lodged on Altantuya.

"We received a report that a Mongolian model had gone missing. My first thought was that it was a tourist, and it doesn't look good on Malaysia if a tourist goes missing."

Musa said the investigations revealed that two police officers were with Altantuya on the night she disappeared, referring to C/Insp Azilah Hadri and Kpl Sirul Azhar Umar, who were later found guilty of murdering her.

He said the police also found that prior to her disappearance, Altantuya had lodged a police report claiming she had been harassed and blackmailed by "a male friend" for demanding money from him.

The police later suspected the involvement of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's aide Abdul Razak Baginda, and had sought permission from then Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to bring him in for questioning.

"Pak Lah was out of the country at the time. When he returned, I told him who we suspected was involved and he said to refer the matter to Najib, as Abdul Razak was his advisor," he explained.

"Najib told me to do my job, and to make the arrest. From there, we discovered that the victim had been murdered and her body blown up," said Musa.

He said to date, there was no evidence linking Najib to the crime and urged the public not to speculate on the matter.

"If anyone has new evidence on the case or has information of someone else's involvement, then they should make a police report and it will be investigated accordingly. Don't just make up stories," he said, adding that the police would investigate fresh leads without hiding anything.

He claimed the Al-Jazeera documentary, which included re-enacted scenes of the Altantuya murder and investigation, were a ploy to ruin Najib's credibility.

"If there are is any new information, including the allegations raised by Al-Jazeera, then the case can be reopened. But make a police report first," he added.

The Federal Court convicted Sirul, 43, and Azilah, 38, of murdering Altantuya. 

In 2009, Sirul and Azilah were convicted and sentenced to death by the Shah Alam High Court for killing the Mongolian woman at Mukim Bukit Raja, Klang, be­tween 10pm on Oct 19 and 1am on Oct 20. 

Abdul Razak, who was jointly charged with them, was acquitted by the High Court in 2008 after the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against him. by akil yunus