Najib's aide: "It's mind boggling!"

Oleh: Beh Lih Yi (Malaysiakini)

"My informer states that Aziz was the person who placed the C4 on various parts of Altantuya’s body witnessed by Rosmah and Norhayati."



Jun 20, 08 7:15pm

"It's mindboggling!" - That's how Raja Petra Kamarudin's statutory declaration alleging that Deputy Prime Minister Najib's wife was at the murder scene of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu was described today.

An aide to Najib Abdul Razak also said they were aware of this latest claim made by Raja Petra, who also runs the 'Malaysia Today' website.

"At the moment, we are looking into it. This is a very mind-boggling statutory declaration," Najib's press secretary Tengku Sarifuddin Tengku Ahmad told Malaysiakini.

The latest allegation hurled at Rosmah Mansor was made by well-known blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin via a statutory declaration signed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Wednesday.

Tengku Sarifuddin however refused to comment if any action could be taken against Raja Petra.

Najib and Rosmah (left) have repeatedly denied they are linked to the killing of Altantuya, describing the widely-known allegations was nothing more than ‘slander and concocted stories’.

In his latest bombshell, Raja Petra accused Rosmah as among three individuals who were present when Altantuya was murdered on October 19, 2006.

"I have been reliably informed that between about 10pm on October 19, 2006 and early hours of the following day, the night Altantuya Shaariibuu was murdered, three other people were also present at the scene of crime," he said, according to his two-page statutory declaration.

He named the two other individuals as one acting colonel Aziz Buyong, who is described as ‘a C4 expert’ and the latter’s wife, known only as Norhayati, who is also said to be Rosmah’s aide de camp.

‘A crime not to reveal’

Altantuya’s body is alleged to have been blown up with C4 explosives at a secondary forest in Puncak Alam, Shah Alam. The murder trial is currently ongoing at the Shah Alam High Court.

"My informer states that Aziz was the person who placed the C4 on various parts of Altantuya’s body witnessed by Rosmah and Norhayati," Raja Petra claimed in the document.

"I make this statutory declaration because I have been reliably informed about the involvement of these three people who have thus far not been implicated in the murder nor called as witnesses by the prosecution in the ongoing trial at the Shah Alam High Court.

"I also make this statutory declaration because I am aware that it is a crime not to reveal evidence that may help the police in its investigation of the crime," read the document, which was first posted on the bigdogdotcom blog run by another blogger.

Raja Petra, contacted by Malaysiakini, has confirmed the content of the document.

He further alleged that he has also been ‘reliably informed’ that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi knows of Najib's (right) wife alleged involvement.

"[...] Abdullah has received a written report from military intelligence confirming what I have revealed and this report was subsequently handed over to his son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin for safekeeping," he said.

Apart from Abdullah and Khairy, Raja Petra claimed "one of the (Malay) Rulers" has also been briefed about the matter and is fully aware of the allegation.

He said he has agreed not to reveal their names other than mention that the prime minister and his son-in-law have been given a copy of the military intelligence’s report.

Police inaction over report

"The purpose of this statutory declaration is to urge all these parties who have been duly informed and have knowledge of this matter to come forward to reveal the truth so that the police are able to conduct a proper and thorough investigation into the murder of Altantuya.

"And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true and by virtue of the provisions of the Statutory Declaration Act, 1960," he said in his declaration.

In the phone interview, Raja Petra explained why he did not lodge a police report on the latest allegation which could lead to a fresh police probe on the Altantuya (left) murder.

The blogger said since there was no action over a police report he had lodged in a separate case in 2001 when he was allegedly beaten up by a high-ranking policeman, "I am not bothered in making a police report".

When asked why the document was posted elsewhere instead of his own 'Malaysia Today' site, he retorted: "Why must it be published on my site?"

Raja Petra was called in for police questioning early last month over an article titled ‘Let’s send the Altantuya murderers to hell’ in which he implicated Najib and Rosmah in the high-profile murder case.

A close aide to Najib, political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda and two police special operations force personnel have been charged with the murder of the Mongolian national.

All three have pleaded not guilty for the ongoing trial. They face the death sentence should they be found guilty.