From her native Mongolia to France via China and Southeast Asia, Altantuya Shaariibuu criss-crossed half the world in a jet-setting lifestyle that put her in contact with Malaysia's elite.

But her travels came to a bloody end last October when the 28-year-old was murdered in Malaysia and her body blown up with explosives.

On Monday, two police officers and a political analyst with links to the top of Malaysian politics will stand trial in connection with her death.

In an email interview with AFP , Altantuya's father Shaariibuu Setev, 55, drew a picture of an ambitious daughter with a cosmopolitan upbringing who was hardworking and loved her children.

A single mother with two young sons aged three and nine, Altantuya made a living as a teacher and an interpreter, according to Shaariibuu.

She went to high school in Russia, trained as a teacher and translator in English and Russian at the National University of Mongolia, travelled to China to learn a Chinese dialect and also tried Japanese and Korean, he said.

"She was always doing practice to improve her language skills and was taking care of her children's health, education and future," Shaariibuu, a psychology professor, said.

Altantuya's younger sister works in Mongolia as an interpreter.

Relatives had previously described the delicately featured Altantuya as a part-time model but Shaariibuu denied she ever worked as one.

Jet-setting romance

In 2004, she met well-connected and debonair political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, 47, and the two had a relationship, according to her father and Abdul Razak's own court affidavit.

The couple conducted a jet-setting romance, meeting in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and France. Abdul Razak said they broke up in around August 2005.

Questions remain about what happened between them after that. He alleged Altantuya tried to blackmail him and that he was harassed by his former lover.

Asked about the claims, Shaariibuu sidestepped the issue, questioning how Abdul Razak, as "one of (the) leaders in Malaysia, was blackmailed by single woman."

Abdul Razak, a close associate of Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, will stand trial Monday charged with abetting Altantuya's murder.

Two police officers from a special squad that protects Malaysia's leaders are accused of killing her.