Ex-IGP: Main suspect in Altantuya case knows best

Since the Federal Court imposed the death sentence on two former police commandos with regard to the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu, there has been much debate over their motive or rather the prosecution and the courts failing to establish one.
 

Quizzed on this, former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan appeared to suggest that there is no motive as far as Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar are concerned. 

 

Referring to political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, he said: "When the 'main suspect' has been acquitted, what motive is there to establish?"

 

"The main suspect is the one who knows best what happened,” he told Malaysiakini.

Burning questions
 

Musa appeared to indicate that both Azilah and Sirul were acting under instructions but declined to comment on this.

 

He also confirmed that police investigations had established a motive for the murder, which took place in 2006 when Musa the national police chief.

 

"But what motive is there to establish for Azilah and Sirul (to kill her), when the main suspect had been cleared?" he asked.

 

Quizzed what was the motive established by the police in its investigations, Musa declined to divulge this on the grounds that the case had already been decided by the highest court.

 

Razak Baginda, a close associate of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, was initially charged with abetting the murder but was later acquitted without his defence being called.

 

In a recent interview, he had blamed the murder on "rogue policemen", and cited cases of custodial deaths where detainees were killed without a motive.

Opening a can of worms

 

Musa's successor, Khalid Abu Bakar, also commented that police investigations concerning murder cases do cover the motive angle.

 

He had said that the police cannot be held accountable when the prosecution or courts decided against establishing a motive and convicted the two based on the evidence available.

 

Khalid also pointed out that the police are not empowered to reveal the motive post-conviction and sentencing.

 

The murder of the Mongolian national had opened a can of worms in relation to conspiracy theories, which even prompted Najib to swear in the name of god that he had no connections with the case.

 

The police also cleared him of any wrongdoing.

 

These theories gained traction when Sirul himself declared during the trial that he was being made into a "scapegoat" to "protect their plans".

 

Sirul is currently in Australia, where he is being detained by the country’s Immigration and Border Protection Department.

 

The former police corporal had also been absent during the Federal Court verdict last month.  

 

The Malaysian government is currently attempting to extradite him, but Australian law dictates that those facing the death penalty cannot be sent back to his or her home country.