UPDATED Azilah: I was in contact with Razak and Musa even after the murder

By SK English Team

Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, one of two cops accused of murdering Altantuya Shaariibuu, the Mongolian woman alleged to have been deputy premier Najib Abdul Razak’s mistress, said he was in contact with both the DPM’s close associate and aide-de-camp even after the alleged murder.

The 32-year old Azilah said he had spoken to Najib’s close friend Razak Baginda and the DPM’s aide-de-camp Musa Safri on the phone between Oct 20 and 21, but did not disclose what they had talked about.

Azilah also denied he had bought investigators, led by Chief Inspector Koh Fei Chow, to Puncak Alam and told them where “the Mongolian woman” was blown up or shot.

Instead, he suggested that he was brought to another place on Nov 6, 2006, where there were some “bushes” with “burn marks”. He said that the location did not match photos taken of the crime scene.

“The place was not like this when I went there,” Azilah said, referring to pictures of the alleged crime scene presented to him.

“I did not see any bones,” he added.

Azilah’s counsel, Hazman Ahmad, later sprung a surprise by telling the court he would not call any more witnesses. He earlier told reporters that several of Azilah’s colleagues had been lined up to take the stand.

The Najib link

Altantuya was believed to have been murdered at a location between Lot 12843 and Lot 16735 in a jungle clearing in Mukim Bukit Raja between 10 pm on Oct 19, 2006, and 1 am the next day. Investigators said her body was strapped with C4 explosives and blown up to prevent identification.

The murder trial has been widely followed both nationally and internationally because of the link to Najib, who has been accused of having a sexual relationship with her, before passing her onto Razak, a political analyst and former adviser.

Razak has admitted Altantuya was his lover, but is adamant that Najib never met her. Najib too has denied ever knowing Altantuya, but he has not been able to shake off the accusations, which flared again when Razak was acquitted and discharged last year, without having to enter his defence for abetting Azilah and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar in the murder.

Both Azilah and Sirul are with the elite police outfit, Special Action Unit, which was tasked to protect Najib and his office. Last week, Azilah told the court that he got to know Razak through Najib’s aide-de-camp Musa, who on Oct 17 asked if he could help Razak with a ‘problem’.

Today, Azilah said he received 10 missed calls from Razak since the early morning of Oct 21.

Asked by Sirul’s lawyer lawyer, Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin, if he had spoken to Razak at 1.34am on Oct 21 for 99 seconds, Azilah said he could not remember the exact time. Asked if Razak had called him again at 1.48am that day and spoke to him for 72 seconds, he said he could not recall.

Azilah also admitted that there was a missed call by Musa at 9.40am on Oct 21 and that he had talked to him for three times that same day.

When asked if he had received an SMS from Razak at about 10pm on Oct 22, he said he could not recall.

We had no motive to kill Altantuya

Azilah had earlier denied killing Altantuya, and had testified that Razak only asked his help to “advise” the woman against Musa claimed was an attempt to blackmail Razak. Musa had not said why Razak was being blackmailed.

Azilah also confirmed that when he met Razak on Oct 18, he had asked: “What kind of help do you really need?”

According to Azilah, Razak said he wanted a police patrol and police box to be placed in front of his Bukit Damansara residence, and for Altantuya to be advised not to blackmail or “disturb” him.

When asked by Sirul’s lawyer, Kamarul, if either he or Sirul had any motive for killing Altantuya, Azilah said they did not.

Kamarul also asked the court for time to prepare Sirul’s statement, and that it be produced only after Chinese New Year.

Kamarul wants the court to make available to him a copy of Musa’s statement and “unused materials” from the prosecution, such as text messages it collected but did not use in the case. He will be making an application, which will be heard tomorrow.

Sumber: Suara Keadilan