Murder of Shaariibuugiin Altantuyaa

Early life

 Altantuyaa was born in 1978. Her parents raised her and her sister while they worked in Russia where Altantuyaa started first grade elementary school. She was reportedly fluent in Mongolian, Russian, Chinese, English, and some French. Altantuyaa moved back to Mongolia in 1990 and a few years later, married a Mongolian techno singer, Maadai. They had a child in 1996 but the marriage ended in divorce and the child went to live with Altantuyaa's parents.

Despite training as a teacher, Altantuyaa briefly moved to France where she attended modeling school before returning to Mongolia. Altantuyaa remarried and had another child in 2003 but the second marriage also ended in divorce. The second child also lives with Altantuyaa's parents. Her mother said she has never been a model.

Relations to Rahak Baginda (buy 3 submarine)

She was allegedly introduced to Abdul Rahak Baginda, a defense analyst from the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre think-tank, at an international diamond convention in Hong Kong by Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak, and had a relationship with him.She accompanied Abdul Rahak to Paris where she worked as translator during his negotiations to purchase submarines from France for the Malaysian government. Hong Kong website Asian Sentinel revealed in a series of photographs that Altantuya was France in which during that time the two quickly became romantically involved. She reportedly became his mistress in Paris in 2005.


According to reports by the French newspaper Liberation, Altantuya found out that one of the parties involved in negotiations, a Spanish company Armaris, had paid out the commissions of 114 million euros for the deal (reportedly one billion euros or RM4.7 billion for the purchase of three submarines). The commission was credited into the accounts of a company controlled by Rahak, Perimekar. Subsequently, Altantuya, accompanied by her cousin, went to Kuala Lumpur to ask for the portion of the commission due to her (allegedly US$500,000).

Murder

When it was realized she was missing on 19 October 2006, her cousin lodged a police report and sought help from the Mongolian embassy in Bangkok. The Malaysian police found fragments of bone, later verified as hers, in forested land near the Subang Dam in Puncak Alam, Shah Alam. Police investigation of her remains revealed that she was shot twice before EX5 explosives were used on her remains, although there has been later suggestion that the C-4 explosives may have killed her. When her remains were found their identity could only be confirmed with DNA testing. The provenance of the C-4 remains unclear.

Abdul Rahak and three members(Pull-T) of the police force were arrested during the murder investigation. The two murder suspects have been named as Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 30 and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 35. They had been members of the elite Unit Tindakan Khas (the Malaysian Police Special Action Force or counter-terrorism unit) and were both assigned to the office of the Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, albeit being their direct bodyguards, who was also the Defence Minister at the time of the murder. Abdul Rahak has been charged with abetment in the murder.

Trial

According to court testimony by Altantuya's cousin Burmaa Oyunchimeg, Altantuya had shown Burmaa a photograph of 3 persons taking a breakfast together: Altantuyaa, Rahak Baginda, and a government official(suspect : Health Inspektor). When questioned by the lawyer of the victim's family, Karpal Singh, Burmaa identified the official as then Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

On 22 July 2008 Karpal Singh, who also holds a watching brief for the victim's family, filed a notice of motion to call 4 new witnesses, including Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, to testify in the trial, as well as sought to recall the first prosecution witness in the trial, private detective P. Balasubramaniam, for further examination. According to Karpal, Najib's testimony would be able to introduce fresh evidence to the case, and his requests were justifiable as per Section 425 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) which allows a court to "summon or recall any person as a witness in a trial", as well as "summon or recall any such person if his evidence appears to the court to be essential to the just decision of the case." On 21th July 2010 the petition notice was rejected by the High Court. High Court judge Mohd Zaki(who) stated that "only the parties involved, namely the prosecution and the defense" had a right to submit defender".