KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 7): The High Court has deferred the scheduled hearing of a judicial review filed by Dr Shaariibuu Setev, following the judge asking the police to respond to an affidavit filed by the Mongolian’s lawyer, which refutes the police’s assertion that there was no duty on their part to inform him of the status of their investigation into Altantuya Shaariibuu’s murder 20 years ago.
Judge Norliza Othman made the direction to the police on Tuesday (Oct 6), as Shaariibuu’s lawyer K Ganeraja affirmed an affidavit dated the same day, claiming that Shaariibuu had lodged a report on June 20, 2018, at the Dang Wangi police station, and the purpose was so that investigations could be commenced by the police over Altantuya’s death.
The judge then fixed Jan 12 for hearing.
In Ganeraja’s affidavit, he affirmed that Shaariibuu had asked the police to investigate who had directed the murder, the motive, and also the role played by Deputy Superintendent Musa Safri, the source of the explosives used, and whether there was a cover-up.
Ganeraja said Shaariibuu had lodged the police report before former chief inspector Azilah Hadri’s statutory declaration in 2019, where he claimed that he had acted under orders (to kill Altantuya).
When contacted by The Edge, Sangeet Kaur Deo, who is also Shaariibuu’s counsel, said the police took the position that her client had not provided any information under Section 107 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and hence there was no duty on their part to inform him of the status of the investigation.
In response, the lawyer said that Ganeraja had placed before the court Shaariibuu's police report, in which Shaariibuu had specifically requested that investigations be conducted into who had ordered his daughter’s killing.
In August last year, Shaariibuu had filed a judicial review application through Messrs Karpal Singh & Co, where he had named the inspector general of police, the director of the Criminal Investigation Department in Bukit Aman, the police, the attorney general, and the Malaysian government as respondents.
Shaariibuu wants to compel the authorities to investigate or complete investigations into the contents Azilah’s statutory declaration dated Sept 24, 2024, in which Azilah had reiterated that he had been acting on orders to kill Altantuya.
Azilah, along with former corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, were convicted of murdering Altantuya.
In 2019, Azilah had affirmed an affidavit to reduce his sentence. The affidavit includes claims from his Oct 17, 2019 statutory declaration (SD) — where he claimed that he had acted under direct orders, and which were not challenged by the prosecution in the highest court.
The 2019 SD was part of an affidavit that was used to reduce his sentence at the Federal Court on Oct 10 last year, from the death penalty to 40 years’ imprisonment and 12 strokes of the rotan.
In the judicial review filed by Messrs Karpal Singh, it was noted that former chief justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, in hearing the case at the Federal Court, had said that the prosecution had not challenged Azilah’s affidavit or SD during the hearing.
The court had also used the principle of proportionality when deciding his sentence.
Shaariibuu in his application, asked the authorities to update him on the investigation and declared that not doing so was a breach of duty. He is also seeking general, aggravated, exemplary, and punitive damages.