DEFENCE lawyers have objected to a translator chosen by the family of slain model Altantuya Shaariibuu in their RM100 million suit against the government and former arms broker Razak Baginda.

The lawyers said the translator, accountant Enkhjin Batbilig, 31, was not qualified as she was not formally trained to interpret court proceedings.

Lawyers also charged that the Mongolian national, who resides in Malaysia, had spent two hours with the plaintiff’s witnesses yesterday and was, therefore, compromised as a translator for the court. 

Shah Alam High Court judge Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, however, ruled that Enkhjin was both competent and had not been compromised.

“I find she has the necessary competence to translate proceedings,” said Vazeer Alam.

“She has some degree of experience having done translation, albeit not in formal court settings,” he said.

He added that he accepted the family’s lawyers’ explanation that the two hours Enkhjin spent with witnesses was to read and verify the witness statements, which were in English and Mongolian.  

In her testimony, Enkhjin told the court that she received her business administration degree from the Mongolian National University and later, an accounting degree in Malaysia in 2011.

She obtained her Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) qualification in 2014 at Sunway University, she told the court. 

Prior to this, she had served as an assistant auditor translator for two mining firms and had translated for civil society group the Centre for Human Rights Development in Mongolia from 2006 to 2012. 

Enkhjin said she has been residing in Malaysia for the past six years and that her courses and education had been undertaken in English.   

Earlier, during cross examination and submission, lawyer Manjit Singh Dhillon, representing Razak, argued that the court should not appoint Enkhjin.

“First of all, the lady in question does not have any competency for translation, as far as the court is concerned. The amount of translation work should extend beyond the routine.

“Her experience is limited to primarily dealing with financial documents and financial documents deal primarily with numbers.”

Manjit also charged that Enkhjin was compromised as a translator and dismissed her claim during cross examination that she was not aware of the Altantuya murder in Mongolia as she was “just a teenager” in October 2006. 

“It is rather facetious to say that, when it was something that would have grabbed the attention of every Mongolian.

“Additionally, she has been actively involved, since yesterday, with the very witnesses she has come to court to intepret for… that is never allowed or never recommended.”

Senior federal counsel Norina Bahadun also objected to the two hours Enkhjin spent with the witnesses and also argued that Enkhjin was not qualified as she has no formal translation qualification.

“This is a trial we and we have to be precise in our words,” she told the court. 

“She is a compromised intepreter. We don’t think she would be the appropriate interpreter in this case.”

Altantuya’s family’s lead counsel, Ramkarpal Singh, said there was no requirement for formal qualification with regard to a translator under Section 45 of the Evidence Act.

He also argued that there was no evidence that the translator was compromised. 

“She said very clearly that all she read were the witness statements and she said very clearly that, apart from the content of the witness statements, there was no further knowledge of that case. What’s the difference if she read it yesterday?

“Witness coaching is a very serious allegation; where is the evidence of that?

“It was never suggested (during submission) that she was coached (by plaintiff lawyers yesterday). They (defence lawyers) should have put it to her (during cross examination) to allow her a chance to explain.”

The hearing will sit again tomorrow. 

Altantuya’s father, Shaariibuu Setev, and other family members allege there was a conspiracy in her murder. The family is seeking damages and dependency claims from the suit, which was filed in 2007. 

Fragments of Altantuya’s bones were found in Puncak Alam, Shah Alam, in October 2006. Police later ascertained that her body was blown up with C4 explosives. 

Razak was acquitted in October 2008 while police chief inspector Azilah Hadri and corporal Sirul Azhar Umar were convicted the following year.  

Both former police officers succeeded in overturning their convictions at the Court of Appeal in 2013, but the Federal Court restored them and sentenced them to death in 2015.

Sirul fled to Australia just prior to the final verdict. The Australian government has said it would not extradite Sirul as it opposes the death penalty. 

Azilah is on death row in Kajang Prison. 

Both men, who were named as respondents by the family, did not have representation today as they have chosen not to challenge the suit. – January 22, 2019.