A witness told the Shah Alam High Court today that first accused Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri was the policeman who took Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu away in a red Proton Wira on Oct 19 last year.

Private investigator P Balasubramaniam, 47, who was employed by political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda was being examined on the third day of the high-profile murder trial.

Deputy public prosecutor Tun Majid Tun Hamzah started the hearing by asking Balasubramaniam if he recognised the policeman and driver of the car which took Altantuya away.

"Yes, I can recognise the police driver. He's the one on the right," he told the translator and pointed to Azilah, 30, who was seated at the dock with Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 35, and Razak, 47.

Yesterday, Balasubramaniam related that Altantunya had arrived Razak's residence in Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, alone in a taxi on the night of Oct 19.

He said he had contacted Razak and was told that the police were on their way, to arrest her. He was instructed to wait and talk to Altantuya until the police arrived.

It was after this that a red Proton Wira arrived. To prevent Altantuya from fleeing, Balasubramaniam said he initially lied to her claiming the 'policeman' - now identified as Azilah - was a relative of Razak.

Balasubramaniam said he found out she had been killed when he attended an identification parade in the Kuala Lumpur Contingent headquarters on Nov 1 last year.

"I was asked to point Azilah out," he testified.

Contact maintained

Tun Majid then proceeded to ask the former Special Branch officer if he kept in contact with Razak between the date that his services were terminated on Oct 26 up to Nov 7 last year.

Balasubramaniam confirmed he had been in contact with Razak until Nov 3 because he wanted to relate to him that Altantuya had been killed.

"I rang Razak many times to ask about it (Altantuya's death). I asked him for details as to what exactly happened to her. He told me that he himself didn't know," he elaborated.

Razak had also contacted him because he had apparently started receiving threats, he said.

"He had received threats from Altantuya's sister called 'Amy' via SMS. I've never met her before. Her SMS threats to Razak was forwarded to my mobile phone," he told the court.

According to telephone records filed with the court, Balasubramaniam also directly received an expletive-laden text message, from a Hong Kong number, on Oct 26.

"I'm gonna call his wife," the anonymous message said. "You... are in big problem."

The trial which began at 9.30am was disrupted for about an hour after the prosecution had some problems with documents to which Balasubramaniam, judge Mohd Zaki Md Yasin and other lawyers needed to refer.

Third accused Razak was seen taking this opportunity to have a long conversation with his family including wife Mazlinda Makhzan and daughter Rowena, before the court adjourned for lunch.

The trial resumed shortly after 2pm.

Two police officers, Azilah and Sirul are charged with the murder which allegedly took place between 10pm on Oct 19 and 1am on Oct 20 last year. Her body was said to be blown up in a jungle clearing in Shah Alam, Selangor.

Razak is charged with abetting the murder of Altantuya by giving the orders out to them.

All three accused face the death penalty if convicted.

The high profile trial is expected to run for a month and to hear testimonies from 30 to 40 prosecution witnesses.