After 12 years, Altantuya's father to testify in RM100m suit
Setev Shariibuu, the father of slain Mongolian national Altantuya Shariibuu, will be in Malaysia next week to testify in the RM100 million suit against the Malaysian government, two former police officers and political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda.
The suit was filed by Setev and Altantuya's children in 2007, a year after she was murdered...
Setev Shariibuu, the father of slain Mongolian national Altantuya Shariibuu, will be in Malaysia next week to testify in the RM100 million suit against the Malaysian government, two former police officers and political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda.
The suit was filed by Setev and Altantuya's children in 2007, a year after she was murdered.
Four years ago, the Federal Court overturned an earlier Court of Appeal decision and upheld the conviction of former police special forces personnel Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar.
The pair was also sentenced to death, but Sirul managed to flee to Australia after the Court of Appeal acquitted them. He is being held at an immigration detention centre as Australian law forbids deporting those who face the death penalty in their home countries.
Lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo told Malaysiakini that Setev would be the first witness to be called to testify in the suit.
"Hopefully, he will testify on Tuesday or Wednesday at the Shah Alam High Court after our discovery application is heard," she said.
The civil trial would be conducted before Justice Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera for two weeks beginning Tuesday.
Last year, the judge ruled that notes and judgment in the criminal proceedings cannot be used in the civil trial, thus requiring Setev's lawyers to possibly recall the witnesses who testified in the criminal trial.
Earlier this week, Sangeet (photo) filed a discovery application to have attorney-general Tommy Thomas reveal the contents of the statements recorded from the witnesses in the murder trial.
This included the statement of DSP Musa Safri, who was the former aide-de-camp of then deputy prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.
“We want all statements to be made available, including those of material witnesses who were not called by the prosecution during the criminal trial,” she said.
In an exclusive interview with Malaysiakini in 2015, Sirul said that Musa should have been called as a witness.
Najib has denied repeatedly involvement in the murder and was cleared by the police as well. His confidant Razak Baginda, who was charged with abetting the murder, was later acquitted.
However, the murder continues to haunt Najib with detractors claiming there was a cover-up.
Last October, Najib, who was prime minister from 2009 to 2018, instructed his aide to lodge a police report against him in relation to the Altantuya murder in order to silence his critics.
He said this would allow the “police under the Pakatan Harapan government” to investigate the allegations of murder made against him, including that of deputy public prosecutor Kevin Morais.
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