Hold inquest to get truth about Altantuya

Law lecturer reminds Attorney-General that magistrate's inquiry is required by law,

KUALA LUMPUR: A law lecturer, blaming the Attorney-General’s Chambers for an incomplete investigation into the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder, has urged the AG to order an inquest to be conducted into the death of the Mongolian woman in 2006.

Shamsher Singh Thind, who teaches at a private college, said in an open letter to the Attorney-General that an inquest was mandatory under the law when someone dies while under the custody of the police.

He said an inquest would have helped to uncover many of the unanswered questions in the case, such as possible motives, and would also have helped to establish whether anyone else was involved, besides the two policemen convicted of her murder.

Quoting the Criminal Procedure Code, he said it stated that “a magistrate holding an inquiry shall inquire when, where, how and after what manner the deceased came by his death and also whether any person is criminally concerned in the cause of the death.”

Two police commandos, Cpl Sirul Azhar Umar and Chief Inspector Azila Hadri, both members of a VIP protection unit, have been convicted and sentenced to death for killing Altantuya and blowing up her body with explosives.

Sirul, who fled to Australia before the final court judgement, has said he was merely acting under orders from above. He is scheduled to be interviewed by reporters by telephone tomorrow from an Australian immigration detention cell, where he is being held pending an Australian government decision of Malaysia’s request to extradite him.

Last week, he had told Malaysiakini that he was being made a scapegoat, and that he had never admitted to killing her. In court testimony, he had spoken of promised payment of between RM50,000 and RM100,000 for carrying out the murder.

Shamsher Singh pointed out that the motive for killing Altantuya was never established. “No one seems to know until today why the two police officers abducted and murdered a foreigner.”

He noted that it was not necessary to establish a motive in order to obtain a conviction in court. “However, without knowing the motive, how was it possible for the police to conclude that only Sirul Azhar and Azilah Hadri, with the exclusion of all others, were responsible for the brutal killing of Altantuya Shaariibuu?”

He said he strongly believed that a prompt magistrate’s inquiry into the cause of Altantuya’s death would have found the answers to many of the open questions in the case.

Shamsher Singh laid the blame at the door of the Attorney-General’s Chambers. He said: “For the public, it is a natural thing to blame the police for not doing a thorough investigation professionally. However, my humble opinion is that it is your office that has to be blamed for this blunder.”

He reminded the Attorney-General that the police could not be expected to investigate their own wrongdoings.

“I can vividly remember that police investigation had failed to reveal the identity of the person who caused bodily injuries to Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim on 20 September 1998 at the Bukit Aman police lock-up,” he said.

The Attorney General at the time, Mohtar Abdullah, had said in 1999 that the police were fully responsible for the injuries [but] the investigation did not identify the person or persons responsible.

It was only after a royal commission of inquiry was held that the Inspector General of Police at the time, Abdul Rahim Mohd Noor, was identified as the person who attacked Anwar.

“Therefore, in the interest of justice, I call upon you, the Attorney General of Malaysia, to direct a Magistrate to hold an inquiry into the cause of, and the circumstances connected with, the death of Altantuya Shariibuu,” Shamsher said.