by
Wong Choon Mei
More than 4 years have passed but the Malaysian courts are
still dragging their feet on a RM100 million lawsuit filed by the parents of
Altantuya Shaariibuu, a Mongolian national killed on Malaysian soil allegedly
in connection with a corruption case involving Prime Minister Najib Razak and
the purchase of Scorpene submarines from French giant DCN.
Even more glaring, more than 2 years have passed since two of
Najib's former bodyguards were sentenced to hang for killing Altantuya in a
jungle clearing in 2006, but the judgment for the death sentence remains unwritten.
Why?
Is the abnormal delay due to the Malaysian judiciary's
incompetency and inefficiency, or are the Malaysian courts really as
unprofessional their international image suggests? Is the Malaysian system
geared towards protecting political bigwigs rather than administering justice
without fear or favour?
These are the questions her parents are demanding answers to.
A
planned maze of delays?
According to Karpal Singh, the lawyer representing
Setev Shaariibuu and wife Altantsetseg Sanjaa, no progress has been made in
either case. The couple filed the civil lawsuit in June 2007, while the
two cops were sentenced to hang in April 2009.
Among reasons given by the Najib administration is that the
cops have appealed, while the judge, Mohd Zaki Yasin, who found them guilty has
till date not written up his judgement.
The judge's tardiness obviously adds to the delay in securing
a hearing date from the Appeals courts. It also delays the lawsuit filed by
Altantuya's parents, with government prosecutors citing concerns about
'prejudice' if the case is heard before the cops' appeal is done with.
"I can't see why the
judge cannot finish writing his grounds. It has been two years already. I have
raised the issue in Parliament but just received a written reply, which is
pointless," Malaysiakini reported
Karpal as saying.
The
world watches and reacts
The two men, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal
Sirul Azhar, are now on the death row. Their trial had been condemed as a
travesty of justice and a bid to protect Najib and prevent information relating
to the kickbacks he allegedly received from DCN from leaking out. In a US
deplomatic cable recently released by WikiLeaks, US embassy officials in
Malaysia too minced no words expressing concern at the skewed justice dealt out
to the two men.
Indeed, the court stymied all efforts by the defense lawyers
to query the accused if they had been paid to kill Altantuya, whom they met
only on the night of her murder. This despite Sirul having stated in a report
that he had been paid RM100,000 to kill her. As a result of such uneven
handedness, few Malaysians and followers of the case believe in the verdict and
speculations remains hot as to the identity of the real "killer or
killers".
"It is fair to say that
the more the Malaysian judiciary is abused by Najib and his administration, the
less faith investors and foreigners will have in our country. They will think
that, if even such a high profile case can be covered up, what protection can
they ever hope for if they do business here," Batu MP Tian Chua told Malaysia
Chronicle.
"This should not go on. If Najib is involved, the
responsibility falls to his party to haul him up. By keeping, quiet, the entire
Umno supreme council is being an accessory to the cover-up. As the ruling
party, they should be the first to call for a thorough Royal Commission of
Inquiry to find out if there were master-minds involved. This is to clear their
president's name and the party's own name, but it looks like they are closing
an eye."
Obstacle
course for justice
Several obstacles now await the Shaariibuus. According
to Karpal, the biggest obstacle and the one most likely to be raised by
government prosecutors is that the appeals from Azilah and Sirul were still
pending.
"They can complain of prejudice - and whether the judge
can remember what he heard during the case and is this why he is delaying his
judgment. If they can show prejudice, then the court will reconsider their
case. I had a case once where, eventually, a higher charge was substituted with
a lower one,” said Karpal.
He promised to bring to Parliament the issue of the abnormal
delay in the cases. So far, Minister in the PM's department Nazri Aziz has
insisted that the Azilah-Sirul delay was due to a backlog of cases. However,
former chief justice Zaki Azmi recently announced that the backlog had been
cleared.
"The family has been writing to ask when the case will
be heard but I continue to tell them that it will take time, as even the appeal
case of the two have not been settled yet," said Karpal.
Commissions
Altantuya's parents have been made the guardians
of Altantuya's two sons, one of whom suffers from a medical disorder.They are
suing the Malaysian government for RM100 million for physical and mental anguish.
As executors of Altantuya's estate and on behalf of her dependents, they are
also seeking special, aggravated and punitive damages.
The beautiful Altanuya was 28 when she was shot in the face
and bombed with C4 explosives to prevent identification. Her ashes still remain
in Malaysian, another sore point with her parents who want to take her remains
home to Mogolia.
Altantuya, who could speak 4 languages including Russian, had
flown in to Kuala Lumpur to collect her UDD500,000 share of the commission allegedly
paid by DCN to Najib through his close friend, Razak Baginda. Altanuya is
believed to have travelled widely together with Baginda during the DCN
negotiations. She is also alleged to have been the mistress to both Baginda and
Najib. Baginda has admitted she was his lover, while Najib has sworn on the
Quran that he never knew her.
Then the defense minister, Najib hammered through the
purchase despite drawing public fire for the exorbitantly-priced submarines
deal in 2002. The acquisition dug a RM7 billion hole in the national coffers
and there is widespread concern that this may not the final price tag.
Investigations in France have recently unconvered new commissions paid, some of
which are rumoured to be as large as the 114 million euros or RM570 million
already paid out to Baginda's Perimekar firm.
'Mr
Cool' Najib may swelter soon
Meanwhile, in a separate case filed by Malaysian NGO Suaram
in Paris against DCN to compel it to return any illegal commissions paid to
Malaysian officials, including Najib, for the purpose of securing the deal and
then charging it back to Malaysian taxpayers, the noose is closing on the
scandal-tainted PM.
On Friday, French lawyer Joseph Breham told a Suaram briefing
in London that the French authorities were on the verge of appointing an
instructional judge, paving the way for open court hearings in Paris to begin.
This will once again cast the global spotlight on Najib and Malaysia.
"Mr Cool is gonna face the heat very soon! Ops Scorpene
legal briefing in Holborn last nite was told that the case will open very soon
in France," Suaram director Cynthia Gabriel said on her Twitter.
Source : MC
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