Prime Minister Mahathir has publicly denied that the Malaysian government has made contacts or arrangements with their Australian counterparts to extradite the man convicted of Altantuya’s murder, Sirul Azhar Umar.
Today, British newspaper The Guardian reported that a deal had been struck by the two, and that Sirul would return to Malaysia within a month.
Tun is saying that such a report is egregious and unlikely, considering the fact that Malaysia’s initial death sentence for Sirul is currently still upheld by the courts. Should this be commuted to life imprisonment instead, the circumstances may then change.
There you have it folks, straight from the source.
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The house of cards built by the former Malaysian sitting government is slowly crumbling, with earnest graft investigations, news of 1MDB arrest warrants being issued and now – reports from The Guardian that Australia has agreed to extradite the man convicted of murdering Mongolian model and translator Altantuya Shaariibuu, Sirul Azhar Umar.
Authorities there had previously been reticent to repatriate Sirul, as he faced the death penalty here for the crime. Now, reports are surfacing that the Malaysian government has promised their Australian counterparts that the former prime ministerial bodyguard will receive a fair trial.
They also agreed to cover the costs of his trip back home (Editor’s Note: Was this an issue?).
Signs point to the case being re-opened by the newly elected government, with many questions left unanswered by the previous trial including. Most worrying, the previous trial failed to ascertain what clear motive the two men convicted of the murder had to kill Shaariibuu, and key witnesses were never called.
Her murder in 2006 has become a source of local and international intrigue, with even the Mongolian government stepping in to ask that Prime Minister Mahathir reopen the case.
International press reports that a pregnant Altantuya was the alleged lover of Najib’s “close confidant” Abdul Razak Baginda. In the weeks leading up to her death, she had been demanding money from Baginda to compensate for her work in brokering a deal to buy French submarines, of which Baginda is said to have benefitted in the multi-millions via kickbacks.
Unable to contact Baginda directly after he refused to take her calls, she went to his house in October 2006. Minutes later, a van arrived at the scene, abducting the model and ultimately taking her to a Subang forest, where she was shot twice with a semi-automatic weapon.
Her lifeless body was wrapped in military-grade explosives, and she was unceremoniously blown up.
Sirul and another fellow bodyguard, Azila Hadri, were charged, tried and found guilty of the murder. They were sentenced to death in 2009, yet Sirul has maintained his innocence, saying he was only carrying out orders from superiors and that he was merely the driver to the scene of the crime.
Out on bail, Sirul then fled to Australia in 2014, managing to gain access to a country that has issues letting in muddy boots, but apparently accepts convicted murderers.
Hiding out in Queensland, authorities then picked him up after Interpol issued a red alert. He’s been sitting in a Sydney detention center ever since.
Without stating the unknown but writing the obvious, it is safe to assume that Sirul knows quite a bit about what happened in the Mongolian’s tragic death, and his return to Malaysia may prove to be a very big headache for an already beleaguered former administration.
The Guardian is reporting that re-opening the case and investigating it in full could result in the possible implication not just of her former lover Baginda, but the former prime minister Najib Razak, and even his wife, Rosmah Mansor.
Prime Minister-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim has called for a fully transparent investigation, with due process and Australian cooperation in the matter.
Australian immigration will not comment publicly on any matters of extradition, and the Malaysian government has called the matter “classified information” that they will not be commenting on.
Everybody better lawyer up, because this is only getting started.
