Azilah’s lawyer denies knowing any deal to link Najib to Altantuya
By Debra Chong, The Malaysian Insider
The lawyer representing murder convict Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri today denied knowing any secret deal to link Datuk Seri Najib Razak to the murdered Mongolian mistress of the Prime Minister’s associate Altantuya Shaariibuu.
“I don’t know anything,” Datuk Hazman Ahmad who is acting for Najib’s former bodyguard told The Malaysian Insider when asked if he was aware of the latest claims by his predecessor, lawyer and Kulim-Bandar Baharu MP, Zulkifli Noordin, on the murder case.
Hazman, who is currently in Singapore, said he took over from Zulkifli in acting for Azilah in the highly-sensational murder mid-way and was not privy to the earlier talks.
He declined further comment, saying any deals and discussions involving Zulkifli “is between him and the other person.”
The gruesome murder of the exotic beauty in 2006 attracted much controversy with its lurid details of sex, espionage and rumours of involvement from high-ranking officials within the government.
Azilah and his colleague, Kpl Sirul Azhar Umar, who are both appealing the mandatory death sentence, were part of the Unit Tindakan Khas (UTK) a special action force assigned to guard top government officials when they were accused of murdering Altantuya, the jilted mistress of political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda who was a close friend to Najib.
The controversy looks set to be revived after Zulkifli’s bombshell in Parliament yesterday claiming he had been directed by a “third force” acting behind the scenes to implicate Najib, then the deputy prime minister, and the latter’s wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor in Altantuya’s death.
