KUALA LUMPUR – Convicted killer and former police commando Sirul Azhar Umar had acted of his own volition to remove the weapon that murdered Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu from Bukit Aman’s armoury in 2006.
Free Malaysia Today reported that the high court was told by Tonny Lunggan that he was unaware of orders from any police brass, allowing Sirul access to the firearm.
The 26th witness in the RM100 million civil suit filed by Altantuya’s family was being cross-examined today by senior federal counsel Zetty Zurina Kamaruddin.
Zetty: “Did you tell the court that Sirul took the weapon from the armoury?”
Tonny: “Yes.”
Zetty: “Do you agree with me that no witness in this trial had testified that there were any orders from any superiors for Sirul to take the weapon from the armoury?”
Tonny: “Yes.”
According to the armoury’s registry, the weapon and a magazine of bullets were removed on October 4, 2006 and returned on October 30, 2006.
The witness also agreed with Zetty’s assertion that Sirul and another police commando, Azilah Hadri, were not involved in any “special operations” on Oct 19, 2006, the day Altantuya was murdered.
“There were also no other superior officers involved in such an operation,” said Tonny.
Altantuya’s father Shaariibuu Setev, his wife and grandson have filed an RM100 million suit against Sirul, Azilah, political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda and the Malaysian government for negligence.
Tonny had also dismissed an assertion by Razak’s lawyer, Manjeet Singh Dhillon, that part of his witness statements were merely opinion and assumptions.
The officer explained that he had testified in the criminal trial of Azilah, Sirul and Razak, where the same evidence was presented.
Under re-examination by the family’s lawyer, Sangeet Kaur Deo, Tonny explained that he had also proposed charges to be laid against Sirul, Azilah and Abdul Razak based on witness statements and scientific evidence.
Last year, officer Zulkarnain Samsudin testified that Sirul confessed to killing Altantuya and even showed the exact location where the victim’s body was blown up when he escorted the latter to the murder site in Puncak Alam, Shah Alam on Nov 11, 2006.
In 2009, Azilah and Sirul Azhar were found guilty by the Shah Alam court for Altantuya’s murder while Razak, who was charged with conspiring with both men for the murder, was acquitted of the charge in October 2008 without having to enter his defence.
Despite both former police commandos succeeding to overturn their conviction at the Court of Appeal in 2013, it was later upheld by the Federal Court in 2015 and both men were sentenced to death.
Sirul had fled to Australia before the final verdict.
The former police commando had failed in his application to seek asylum, however, the Australian government stated that they will not extradite Sirul back to Malaysia. – The Vibes, May 19, 2022
