SHAH ALAM, 19 Jan 2009: Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri today denied the prosecutor’s suggestion that he was in Puncak Alam to shoot and blow up Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu on the night of 19 Oct 2006.
On the third day of his defence, he maintained that on the night Altantuya was murdered, he was with his fiancée and they ate together in Wangsa Maju and after that, he went back to the Special Action Unit (UTK) headquarters in Bukit Aman.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah said: “I tell you, after you left Bukit Aman, you, Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar and the ‘Chinese woman’ went to Puncak Alam.
“Then between 10.43pm and 11.28pm you were at the incident scene with Sirul and had shot and blown up the deceased, before returning to Bukit Aman.”
Azliah replied: “I disagree.”
Azilah, 32, and Sirul, 36, both UTK operatives are accused of murdering Altantuya, 28, in Mukim Bukit Raja between 10pm on 19 Oct 2006 and 1am the following day.
On 31 Oct last year, the High Court acquitted and discharged political analyst Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda, 48, of abetting them in Kuala Lumpur between 9.54am on 18 Oct 2006 and 9.45pm the next day without calling him to enter defence.
Azilah told the court that on 19 Oct 2006 between 9.41pm and 11.52pm, he was not at the incident scene because he was in his office in Bukit Aman.
He also said he had met his fiancée at about 10.30pm and they went to a mamak shop in Wangsa Maju and spent about 45 minutes there before he returned to Bukit Aman.
He also disagreed with the deputy public prosecutor’s suggestion that he and Sirul had brought Altantuya to Puncak Alam through the New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE) and exited through the Damansara Toll Plaza at 9.57pm.
Tun Majid: “I say to you Razak’s problem ended on that night after you and Sirul shot and blew up Altantuya in Puncak Alam.”
Azilah: “Disagree”.
He said that on 19 Oct 2006, he did not carry a firearm because he had handed it over to Sub-Inspector Megat Rosli earlier that day.
He also said he did not carry a firearm when patrolling the area of Razak’s house and when looking for Altantuya at Hotel Malaya in the afternoon of 18 Oct 2006.
Tun Majid: “Do you agree that on 18 Oct 2006, when you went to Razak’s office, Razak’s house, Central Market and Hotel Malaya, you were still armed?”
Azilah: “The firearm was with me when I went to Encik Razak’s office and when I went to Encik Razak’s house after that. When I returned to the office in Bukit Aman, I left the weapon in the cabinet.”
He also denied telling Razak “tonight encik can sleep soundly” by phone.
The hearing before Justice Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin continues tomorrow. — Bernama
