RPK: Najib linked to Altantuya, to make Ku Li PM

KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 — Controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin revealed today a conspiracy that linked Datuk Seri Najib Razak to the Altantuya murder was so that Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah could become prime minister.

His claim came a day after an interview with him appeared on the pro-government TV3 channel where he denied accusing Najib’s wife of being at the scene where Mongolian model Altantuya Shaaribuu was killed.

“The whole objective of this exercise was to block Najib Tun Razak from taking over as prime minister. If (Tun) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi can be forced to resign, and if Najib can be blocked from taking over, then Tengku Razaleigh could become the next prime minister,” he wrote in the Malaysia Today news portal which he edits.

Raja Petra (picture), popularly known as RPK, said that a meeting attended by about 30 people was held in the former finance minister’s office where an aide of his, Nik Azmi Nik Daud, was the main speaker.

“The purpose of this meeting was to explore how it can be engineered so that Tengku Razaleigh can take over as prime minister,” said Raja Petra, who is currently self-exiled in the United Kingdom.

He named several people who attended the meeting including Umno bloggers and PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli but did not say when the meeting took place, although it appeared to be before he met Nik Azmi, who he called “Bul” in his article.

TV3 reported last night that Raja Petra said his statutory declaration (SD) dated June 18, 2008 was based on information from other sources, adding that a lot of people accused him of slander without actually reading his sworn statement.

“I never accused the prime minister or his wife of being involved in the murder of Altantuya Shaaribuu,” Raja Petra was quoted as saying.

He confirmed in his column today that he did not accuse Najib or his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor of the gruesome murder of the Mongolian beauty, who was blown up with C4 explosive in 2006.

Najib and wife have been linked to the death as his friend, political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, was charged with the murder but later acquitted. Two police escorts have been convicted for the murder.

Raja Petra said this was not a new revelation and that he has been saying so repeatedly since signing the SD.

“I told TV3 that what I am about to say is not something new. I have written and spoken about this many times before. I have even made my statement to the police during my ISA detention. And this statement was recorded by the police.

“Instead, the story of my allegation against Rosmah and the husband and wife Lt-Kols is what is repeated again and again by all and sundry,” he said, referring to the duo who were alleged to have accompanied Rosmah to the scene of the murder on the night of the crime.

In his column, he said he met Nik Azmi twice in 2008 before agreeing to make the SD.

He said that during the first meeting, Nik Azmi “related that Lt-Kol Azmi Zainal Abidin, the number two in the special branch of the military intelligence, has a confidential report that proves that Rosmah, Lt-Kol Aziz Buyong, and his wife Lt-Kol Norhayati Hassan were present at the scene of Altantuya’s murder at the time she was murdered. Bul told me to expose this.”

“I told him to let me think about it first. My wife, however, disagreed. She felt that the story is too far fetched and that Bul is not a reliable source. We can only do that if they show us the confidential report,” he wrote.

Raja Petra said that Bul said the report could only be revealed after the police launch an investigation.

“So I must expose this to provoke the police to launch an investigation. I decided to do nothing,” Raja Petra wrote that during the second meeting, “Bul asked me whether I was going to expose the story and I told him I would not.”

“I told Bul I would surely be arrested and charged if I do what he suggests. He assured me that if that happens, and he wants that to happen for the plan to succeed (which means I am the bait), then the military intelligence report would surface,” the blogger wrote, saying that Nik Azmi promised to cover him and ensure he would not go to jail.

Raja Petra said he would write an article but Nik Azmi wanted an SD instead as “the police can’t ignore a statutory declaration. They would have to take action.”

He said he then called John Pang, who also worked for Tengku Razaleigh then, and was told that the Gua Musang MP knew Lt-Kol Azmi very well.

“In fact, he often goes to Tengku Razaleigh’s office — and that Tengku Razaleigh also knows about the story of this confidential military intelligence report concerning Rosmah and the two Lt-Kols being at the scene of the crime,” he wrote.

He said he then called blogger Din Merican, who has denied Raja Petra’s claim, to check with Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on the background of Lt-Kol Azmi.

“Din called back and said that Anwar knows him very well — he also often goes to see Anwar — and that he is very reliable,” he said.

Raja Petra said that after his SD had sparked controversy — he was eventually arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and charged with sedition and criminal defamation — he met Nik Azmi to ask for a copy of the report.

“Bul said that they no longer have it. The entire file has been shredded, Bul said. Surely they have a back-up copy, I said,” the blogger wrote.

Raja Petra said that Nik Azmi then told him “sorry, no back-up copy. The report no longer exists. In fact, the entire file no longer exists.”

Raja Petra also said that he told this story to the police when he was held under the ISA after making his SD.

“During my 10-day interrogation, the senior Special Branch officer, Datuk Zambri, asked me about the statutory declaration that I signed. I named names because these people had said that if anything happens to me I have their permission to mention their names. In fact, if I were to be put on trial, they were prepared to come forward to testify,” he wrote.

The second part of his interview with TV3 that was conducted when he visited Australia recently will be aired tonight.