THE father of murdered Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu today questioned the integrity of the former Mongolian honorary consul to Malaysia Syed Abdul Rahman Alhabshi, who was the liaison between her family and the Malaysian authorities after her killing 12 years ago.

Dr Shaariibuu Setev told the Shah Alam High Court this morning that he doubted Syed Abdul Rahman was acting in the interest of Altantuya’s family.

He said on August 29, 2008, Syed Abdul Rahman had sent an email to the Mongolian Foreign Ministry, seeking to dismiss speculation that Najib Razak, who was then deputy prime minister, had been involved in the murder.

Shaariibuu said he knew this because the email had been translated to him by a Mongolian lawyer after the ministry provided him a copy.

He was testifying in the hearing of a RM100 million suit he has filed against the Malaysian government over his daughter’s murder.

Shaariibuu said he was invited to Syed Abdul Rahman home in Kuala Lumpur, where the former honorary consul showed a picture of him and Najib.

The visit to the home was after Najib’s associate, Abdul Razak Baginda, was acquitted of the murder.

“He said they (Syed Abdul Rahman and Najib) were close friends,” Shaariibuu said today.

He said the former consul had also demanded from him records of Altantuya’s flight tickets and bank statements as well as several photographs of her.

“I was thinking that they will be used for the trial. I am not sure whether all those documents were sent to the relevant authorities or used in the trial,” he added.

Shaariibuu was being examined by his counsel Sangeet Kaur Deo.

In his suit filed in 2007, he is seeking damages and dependency claims for the mental shock and psychological trauma that Altantuya’s murder the year before had caused him and the family.

Altantuya had been shot and her body blown up with explosives in a jungle area near Shah Alam, Selangor.

Her father had earlier told the court that her lover was a “big man” in Malaysia named “Razak”.

Razak, who was an adviser to Najib , was charged with abetting police commandos Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar in the murder of Altantuya, 28, in 2006. 

However, he was acquitted by the Shah Alam High Court in October 2008 without calling for his defence, while Azilah and Sirul Azhar were convicted of murder in 2009.

On August 23, 2013, the Court of Appeal allowed Azilah and Sirul’s appeal and acquitted them.

On January 13, 2015, however, the Federal Court allowed the prosecution’s appeal and set aside the Court of Appeal’s decision. Sirul and Azilah were found guilty and sentenced to death.

Sirul fled to Australia before the Federal Court made its ruling and is now being detained at the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre, while Azilah is on Death Row at Kajang Prison. – January 28, 2019.