THE father of Altantuya Shaarriibuu is not so much interested in discussing the fate of his daughter’s murderer, as he is in hunting down the mastermind behind the act.

Setev Shaarriibuu declined to talk about Sirul Azhar Umar, a former bodyguard who was convicted of murdering his daughter.

“I don’t want to talk about Sirul,” he said today at the office of Ramkarpal Singh, the lawyer for the Sharriibuu family.

“The most important thing is who ordered her murder.”

Altantuya, 28, was shot dead before her body was blown up with military-grade explosives in a forest in Puncak Alam, Shah Alam, in 2006.

Two policemen – Sirul  and Azilah Hadri – who were former prime minister Najib Razak’s ex-bodyguards, were found guilty and sentenced to death in 2009. 

They were acquitted by the Court of Appeal in a controversial 2013 ruling. Prosecutors appealed the decision in the Federal Court, which overturned the appellate court decision in 2015.

Sirul, who escaped to Sydney a year after the sentencing, has said he was acting on orders from above.

Malaysia has said it is negotiating with Canberra the possibility of getting Sirul to return to deliver his testimony. However, the fugitive is reported to have told friends he is afraid to go back to Malaysia because he fears for his life.

Malaysia’s requests to Australia in the past to have Sirul sent back were turned down by Australia, which laws does not allow a person facing the death penalty to be extradited. 
Ramkarpal today said Sirul was not crucial in a possible re-opening of the Altantuya murder investigation.

“There is other evidence available from the criminal proceedings itself.

“Crucial witnesses were not called in those proceedings who can shed light into the question of motive, as to who ordered the murder. 

“People are under the wrong impression that we need him here. It is certainly not the case.” – June 19, 2018.