THE son of murdered Mongolian Altantuya Shariibuu told the Shah Alam High Court today that he never had any meaningful relationship with his father, Mongolian hip-hop singer Madai.

Testified in a RM100 million civil suit the family filed over the death of Altantuya,  Bayarkhuu Bayarjagal, 21, denied suggestions by defence lawyers that he had received paternal support after his mother’s murder in 2006.

When cross examined, Bayarkhuu, whose birth name is Mungunshagai, disagreed that he changed his name to follow that of his father, whose real name is Bayarjagal Bayasgalan

“I put it to you that the name Bayarkhuu was chosen because you were proud of your father, a well known Mongolian rapper,” said Manjeet Singh Dhillion, lawyer for Abduk Razak Baginda, who is one of four respondents in the suit filed by Altantuya’s family.

“I disagree. Bayar is simply a popular name in Mongolia… It is just a popular name. It doesn’t mean I love my father,” Bayarkhuu said, adding that Bayarjagal never provided living expenses. 

Bayarkhuu earlier testified that the name “Bayar” simply meant “joy”, and that it carried no connotations beyond that. He said he chose the name with the help of his maternal grandfather, Shaariibuu Setev.

Shaaribuu, his wife Altansetseg Sanjaa, Bayarkhuu and Altantuya’s other son, Altanshagai Munkhtulga, filed the suit in 2007, seeking damages and dependency claims.

Altanshagai, bed-ridden from cerebral palsy, died in 2015 at age 15. 

Yesterday, Bayarkhuu told the court that he had to change his name in order to escape public scrutiny over the death of her mother.

He told the Shah Alam High Court today that he met his father only in 2011. 

Bayarkhuu also disagreed with a 2006 news article, referenced by Manjeet during cross examination, in which Bayarjagal was quoted as saying that he has not seen Bakarkhuu for three years after he was stopped by his ex-wife Altantuya from doing so. 

He added that he was not aware of official documents or “wedding pictures” of a marriage between Altantuya and Bayarjagal. 

He said he had no knowledge whether his materal grandparents had stopped him from seeing his father. 

Bayarkhuu also testified that his father was not present for his mother’s wake in Mongolia and repeatedly said that his father had “refused to take him in.” 

When the family’s lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo questioned the relevance of questions on Bayarkhuu’s father, Manjeet responded by saying that the suit involved dependency claims and that Bayarkhuu was neither “living in destitute” nor “hawking DVDs”, as his father was a successful musician. 

“I disagree with the suggestion that my father wanted an opportunity to raise me,” Bayarkhuu said. 

“When I met him (recently), we spoke as men, and he apologised that he didn’t raise me as son as he didn’t want me at the time.

“He admits it and he apologised for it. I knew I had a father, but I never felt any love or any care with him. I’ve never spent a night together with him.”

The hearing, before justice Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, adjourned to May 6. – January 31, 2019.