Former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has come to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s defence, stressing that police has cleared his successor of any involvement in the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

This comes after Abdullah’s predecessor Dr Mahathir Mohamad launched a broadside against Najib and questioned the sitting prime minister’s failure to address the motive of the murder.

Abdullah ( left ), fondly known as Pak Lah, said he was briefed about the case during his tenure and appeared convinced about the investigation’s outcome.

“Among the matters reported to me during my time as prime minister was the result of the investigation of the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.

“Based on the findings from the thorough investigation conducted by the Royal Malaysian Police that was conveyed to me, it was confirmed that Najib Abdul Razak is not involved at all in the case,” Abdullah was quoted as saying by The Star Online .

Previously, former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan ( right ), who oversaw the investigation of the case, had also reiterated that Najib was not involved.

Altantuya was shot dead and blown up with military grade explosives in 2006.

She was murdered after purportedly demanding a cut of commission from a submarine deal.

A close associate of Najib, defence analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, was cleared by the Shah Alam High Court of abetting murder in 2008.

However, two police commandos from the elite Special Action Unit, Sirul Azhar Umar and Azilah Hadri, were convicted for her murder and their death sentence was upheld by the Federal Court in January.

While Azilah awaits his sentence, Sirul, who was Najib’s bodyguard at the time of the murder, had fled to Australia.

Sirul claimed he was instructed to carry out the hit against Altantuya, but has yet to reveal who gave him the order.

Mahathir has come out in support of Sirul, saying that it was unjust to execute a man for “doing his duty” and demanded that Najib respond on why the murder motive was not looked into.

The Shah Alam High Court had ruled that motive was not essential in the conviction of the two commandos.

Najib, in an interview on TV3 yesterday, also reiterated that he was in no way involved in the murder and indicated that Mahathir was using the case as ammo due to disagreements on Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia and the Singapore crooked bridge.