Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein has denied involvement of another individual linked to Prime Minister Najib Razak in the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

This time it was prime minister's former aide Nasir Safar, who had to quit his post last year after making disparaging remarks against non-Malays.

"Based on police investigations, there is no mention of the individual (Nasir) or suspect in the murder of Altantuya," said Hishammuddin in a written parliamentary reply to R Sivarasa (PKR-Subang).

Sivarasa had asked if it was true that Nasir was in a blue Proton Wira outside the home of defence analyst Abdul Razak Baginda on the night of Oct 19, 2006.

azlan This follows private investigator-in-exile P Balasubramaniam's allegation that he saw Nasir in the vehicle moments before Altantuya was taken from the scene by police.

Balasubramaniam said that he did not recognise Nasir at the time, but managed to identify the latter in news reports over his purportedly racist tirade which offended minorities.

'More questions raised'

Nasir resigned from his position at Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's office following the debacle.

Hishammuddin's reply however failed to answer Sivarasa's main query - whether Nasir was in the said car in front of Razak's house.

Asked on this during his press conference at the Parliament lobby, Sivarasa expressed disappointment that the government decided to skirt his question.

"The written reply did not state whether Nasir was in the vehicle or not and instead talked about something else," he said.

"The minister if refusing to answer me. It shows that they are not responsible. The answer raises more questions as to whether he (Nasir) was there or not.

"The reason I asked the question was because PI Bala had stated that Nasir was there.

"Are the police prepared to take this issue further? Are the police willing to go to London and take a statement from Bala?" asked Sivarasa.