Malaysia to reopen murder case of Sh.Altantuya

Malaysia is set to reopen the investigation into the murder of Mongolian national Sh.Altantuya in 2006 as her father S.Shaariibuu met with newly elected Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad.

The Malaysian police confirmed to The Star newspaper that they were reopening their investigations after Sh.Altantuya’s father flew to Malaysia from Mongolia to file a fresh statement.

Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s prime minister pledged his support for S.Shaaribuu’s case “if there is new evidence”, after meeting with him on Wednesday evening, reported Channel News Asia. S.Shaaribuu has alleged that the former government tried to block the truth from emerging, and that the true plot behind his daughter’s murder was covered up.

Sh.Altantuya was a model and interpreter working in Malaysia. She was killed with military-grade explosives in a forest on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. In 2015, two former police officers were sentenced to death for the crime. But reports have alleged that the officers served as bodyguards for Najib Razak, then deputy prime minister and recently, sixth prime minister of Malaysia.

It is alleged that Abdul Razak Baginda, an aide of Najib, received commission payments from the French submarine builder DCNS to purchase two Scorpene submarines by the Malaysian Ministry of Defense in 2002. Sh.Altantuya, hired as a French translator to facilitate the purchase of the submarines and alleged mistress to Baginda, reportedly tried to blackmail Baginda for 500,000 USD and was said to have been subsequently murdered.

Two former police officers, Sirul Azhar Umar and Azilah Hadri, were sentenced to death for the crime but Sirul fled to Australia to seek asylum and is currently being held at a detention center in Sydney.

President Kh.Battulga recently urged newly appointed PM Mahathir Mohamad to reopen the case, underlining that reopening the case would not only help justice but also ease tensions between the two countries.

“As the president of Mongolia, I pay special attention to the grave crime committed in Malaysia on October 18, 2006 – the murder of Ms. Altantuya Shariibuu, a Mongolian national and a mother of two children. It has created an unfavorable atmosphere in the bilateral relations between our two counties and, especially between the people.

“Therefore, I sincerely hope that your excellency prime minister will pay attention in bringing justice, implementing court decision and settling the civil suit of the family of the victim in a fair manner to invigorate the atmosphere in the bilateral relations between our two countries,” the letter read.

...The Malaysian police confirmed to The Star newspaper that they were reopening their investigations after Sh.Altantuya’s father flew to Malaysia from Mongolia to file a

fresh statement...