PETALING JAYA: Official documents have surfaced that debunk long-standing allegations that Altantuya Shaariibuu became the lover of a close aide of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak through her involvement in the Scorpene submarine deal.
One document is a contract signed on June 5, 2002, between the Malaysian government and French supplier DCN International S.A., Spanish supplier Izzar Construcciones Navales, and Malaysian service provider Perimekar Sdn Bhd.
This was two years before Abdul Razak Baginda met Altantuya in 2004, as stated by him in his sworn affidavit.
It is also consistent with the statement in recent news reports by Jasbir Singh Chahl, who was a middleman in the submarine deal, that the Mongolian woman, said to be an interpreter, was never part of the negotiation team as the Malaysian team used English in its dealings with the French company.
What’s more, Jasbir’s revelation tallied with the confessions made by fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin three years ago.
Raja Petra had admitted in his blog that he wrote the 2008 statutory declaration (SD) pertaining to Altantuya’s death based on information fed to him by certain personalities aligned with an opposition leader.
In his blog entry on April 14, 2011, Raja Petra revealed that a former student of the Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) fraternity, had prodded him to write about an SD alleging the presence of Najib’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor at the site where the remains of Altantuya were found at the time she was murdered.
“The whole objective of this exercise was to block Najib from taking over as Prime Minister,” he said, adding that then Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was under pressure to resign.
Altantuya was killed in 2006. Two policemen were charged with her murder and Razak with abetting them. The two were found guilty in April 2009 and sentenced to death. Razak was acquitted.
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