THE Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should consider interrogating the two former police personnel who were convicted for the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu, said veteran lawmaker Lim Kit Siang.
He said that this was necessary in light of formal French investigations into the alleged corruption concerning the sales of the Scorpene submarines to Malaysia in 2002.
The Iskandar Puteri MP said that the PAC should consider interrogating Azilah Hadri who is currently on death row as well as Sirul Azhar Umar who is currently detained at the Villawood immigration Centre in Sydney, Australia.
“The PAC should consider making a parliamentary plea to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to commute the death sentence for both convicted killers in the effort to establish the motive for the murder of Altantuya,” Lim remarked.
Altantuya was murdered on Oct 18, 2006. When Sirul and Azilah were tried for murder, it was revealed that Altantuya was involved in an affair with Abdul Razak Baginda, the owner of several companies involved in the scorpene submarine deal.
Sirul and Azilah were both convicted in 2009 but freed by the Court of Appeal in 2013. Upon being freed, Sirul fled to Australia, where he is currently under detention.
Following this, the Federal Court overturned the appeal and reinstated the conviction, which carries the death sentence.
Since the Federal Court case has concluded, both Sirul and Azilah continued to maintain their innocence.
Azilah attempted to seek a review of the Federal Court decision in 2019. In his statutory declaration, Azilah claimed he was given a “shoot-to-kill order” by then-deputy prime minister Najib Abdul Razak on the grounds that Altantuya was a Russian spy.
Azilah’s application for the review was unsuccessful.
There is renewed interest in the submarine deal after it was confirmed on Wednesday (April 27) that the French authorities have commenced formal investigations into Thales Group over kickback allegations involved in the 20-year-old deal. – April 29, 2022
