Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Karpal to AG: Probe fresh Altantuya claims



Veteran DAP politician and lawyer Karpal Singh wants Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail to immediately initiate an investigation into the fresh explosive allegations over the Altantuya Shaaribuu murder.


Speaking at a press conference held at his office in Jalan Pudu, Kuala Lumpur today, Karpal said that he will try and arrange a meeting with Gani at his office in Putrajaya tomorrow morning to push for a probe."If we cannot see him, we will try and meet with senior deputy public prosecutor Abdul Majid Hamzah (lead prosecutor in the Altantuya murder case) to discuss the matter," added Karpal.


The meeting arrangement would be done on behalf of Dr Shariibuu Setev, Altantuya's father, in light of the recent explosive allegations made by prominent blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin."I also want to see the prominent woman mentioned in the statutory declaration. This allegation is a very serious one and I hope that an investigation be carried out," said Shaariibu who was also present at the press conference.A statutory declaration signed by Raja Petra on June 18 had implicated Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, his deputy Najib Abdul Razak and wife Rosmah Mansor in the case.


Rosmah present at murder scene


In his two-page statutory declaration, Raja Petra alleged that Rosmah was among three individuals who were at the scene when Altantuya was murdered on Oct 19, 2006.He named the two other individuals as acting colonel Aziz Buyong, who is described as ‘a C4 expert' and the latter's wife, known only as Norhayati, who is also said to be Rosmah's aide de campRaja Petra further alleged that Abdullah, his son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin and a Malay Ruler have been briefed on the matter and are fully aware of the allegation against Rosmah.He alleged that Abdullah has handed over a written report from military intelligence on the matter to Khairy for "safekeeping".


Shaaribu when asked by the press if he thought that there were any truths to the allegations, calmly answered that it was "not a case of a one plus one equals two", adding that he could not give any answer but stressed the importance of investigating into the allegations.


Karpal also backed Shaariibu's views and said that the statutory declarations made by Raja Petra in the High Court on June 18 was extremely serious and ought to be thoroughly investigated."The fact that the prosecution has closed its case in the Altantuya trial is no bar to further investigations being conducted following the disclosures,"


Father: Loss of daughter is like a tsunami


The Altantuya prosecution team after 124 days of trial and 4,000 pages of type-written notes had finally closed its case yesterday with the court fixing July 23 as submission date.Raja Petra's allegations also prompted Karpal's fellow DAP politician Lim Kit Siang to move a motion to debate the matter in Parliament today but was rejected by the House Speaker Pandikar Mulia Amin.Najib and his wife have always dismissed claims of their links to Altantuya.


Shaariibu commenting on the matter said that he hopes justice will be served and that the Mongolian government will be informed of the updates on the case."There is a saying in Mongolia, ‘no matter what you hide, it will surface and people will know'. God is looking upon us and the truth will come out," he said while adding that he will raise the matter with the international human rights community as well.


Shaariibuu also said that the stress of the loss of his daughter was "like a tsunami" to him and that he was still coping with the loss of his daughter."'Altan' in Mongolia means gold.


I have lost the gold in my life and so have her two children," added Shaariibuu.Altantuya's body is alleged to have been blown up with C4 explosives at a secondary forest in Puncak Alam, Shah Alam.


Two police special operations force personnel and political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda have claimed trial to the murder of the Mongolian national.They face the death sentence should they be found guilty.

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