Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s alleged involvement in the murder case of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu cropped up again in the sedition trial of popular blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin today.
Defence counsel Gobind Singh Deo probed assistant director of the Interpol National Centre Bureau at Bukit Aman, Gan Tack Guan, on an apparent photograph of Najib seated at the table with Shaariibuu during her birthday party in the Mandarin Hotel in Singapore.
In addition to that, Gobind also quizzed Gan on a letter that was presumably signed by the deputy premier to support Shaariibuu’s visa application for entry into Malaysia.
The claims that were put forth were information that was derived from the alleged seditious article ‘Let’s send Altantuya’s murderers to hell’ posted on April 25, 2008 in the Malaysia Today website maintained by Raja Petra.
Gobind said that Uuriintuya Gal-Ochir, a Mongolian, alleged that there was no travel record of Altantuya and herself coming into Malaysia via Beijing, and she went on to say it has been deleted.
Gan agreed, but when asked whether the travel records were investigated, Gan said that he could not remember.
Contention on letter signed by Najib
The counsel then asked whether the cops had recorded statements from the Malaysian embassies in Mongolia, France, United Kingdom and Beijing during the span of the murder trial. Gan again replied that the police did not peruse for their statements.
“If the statement (in the article) that there is a letter from the deputy prime minister which supports Altantuya’s visa application was not investigated, you are not in the position to tell whether it is true or not,” said Gobind but Gan disagreed.
Gobind: Although it was not investigated, you said the statement in the article in your police report that it was fabricated?
Gan: Yes, it is fabricated by Raja Petra because during Altantuya’s murder investigation, there was no witness who came forward to testify on that matter. Therefore, in my opinion it was fabricated.
Gobind: You expect it to fall on your laps is it? As the investigating officer, shouldn’t you investigate the statement?
Gan: I got this fact when I was browsing the article which was written by Raja Petra, and I find that the facts were fabricated.
Gobind: Do you agree with that it would have been easy, to ask Najib whether he had written such a letter?
Gan: I don’t agree, that is not the issue. I found it to be fabricated.
Gobind: How did you know Najib did not write the letter, given the fact that you neither asked him nor officers from the various embassies?
Gan: The facts surfaced on the website before the fact came up in Altantuya’s murder investigation and no witness testified and therefore I supposed that the facts were fabricated.
As Gan repeatedly insisted that the part of the article was made up, Gobind cornered Gan saying that the report was false as Gan stated that the facts were fabricated but testified that he assumed the facts were indeed made up.
Another point that was also stressed by the defence was the statement by Altantuya’s cousin Burmaa Oyunchimeg, who divulged the existence of a photograph.
Gobind: There is a statement that there is a photo taken during Altantuya’s birthday party in the Mandarin Hotel, Singapore. Do you agree you did not investigate this fact at all?
Gan: We did not investigate.
Gobind: At any point of time did you investigate the truth of the statement?
Gan: No.
Gobind: I put it to you are in no position to say that Najib did not attend Altantuya’s birthday party in Mandarin Hotel as alleged?
Gan: I don’t agree.
Gobind: You agree with me that it could have been easy to confirm this with Najib by merely asking him?
Gan: I don’t agree.
Gobind also asked Gan whether he had personally asked Oyunchimeg for a copy of the photograph, and Gan said that he did but it was not produced in court.
“I put it to you that you are lying when you said you asked the witness for the photograph … you are a compulsive liar,” accused Gobind.
The case has been postponed to Apr 23 to 24, as the judge requested for Gobind to get the notes which he used in reference to the Shaariibuu trial to be certified by the Shah Alam court, before submitting it as a reference material for the sedition trial.
Judge ordered stand down twice
The trial at the Petaling Jaya Session Court which resumed before judge Rozina Ayob was, however, interrupted twice after Gobind began badgering police witness Gan on the abetment charge against, now acquitted, Abdul Razak Baginda in the ongoing Shaariibuu murder trial in Shah Alam.
Gobind asked while cross-examining Gan, who was the chief investigating officer in that murder case, whether special action squad officers, Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar, who are being tried for Shaariibuu’s murder were paid to commit the crime.
Gan replied that the statement was untrue, and Gobind proceeded to ask “who was suspected of paying them off” but was interjected by Justice Rozina, who demanded for the relevancy of the questioned followed the objection of deputy public prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusof.
However, Gobind then suggested to Gan that Abdul Razak had paid the police officers to assassinate Altantuya, but Gan once again disagreed.
“I put it to put you that you are deliberately concealing material facts about this trial,” said Gobind but Gan disagreed.
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