Shaariibuugiin Altantuya (Mongolian: Шаарийбуугийн Алтантуяа; sometimes also Altantuyaa Shaariibuu; 6 May 1978 – 18 October 2006), a Mongolian national, was a murder victim who was either murdered by PETN and RDX explosives or was somehow killed first and her remains destroyed with explosives on 18 October 2006 in a deserted area in Shah Alam, Malaysia. Her murder case is significant in contemporary Malaysian politics due to the alleged involvement of persons close to the former Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, who was then the deputy prime minister.
The Shah Alam High Court originally acquitted Abdul Razak Baginda and meted out the death sentence to two of the accused, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, on 9 April 2009, wrapping up the 159-day trial. On 23 August 2013, Sirul and Azilah were acquitted by the Court of Appeal, sparking controversy. On 13 January 2015, the Federal Court overturned the acquittal of both individuals, finding them both guilty of murder and sentencing them to death. However, Sirul fled to Australia and efforts by the Malaysian authorities to extradite him were hampered by existing Australian legislation prohibiting the extradition of individuals to countries with the death penalty. Azilah's death sentence was eventually reduced to 40 years in jail and 12 strokes of the cane.
After the Malaysian 14th general election marking a historic defeat for the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and other parties including Altantuya's father had hoped for further investigations to uncover the motives behind her murder in order to bring justice to the case. Sirul said he was willing to reveal what really transpired in exchange for a full pardon to return to Malaysia.
On 16 December 2019, convicted killer Azilah Hadri alleged from death row in Kajang Prison that the order to kill Altantuya Shaariibuu came from former Prime Minister Najib Razak and his close associate, Abdul Razak Baginda.
Background
Altantuya was born in 1978. She and her sister were raised in the Soviet Union, where Altantuya attended first grade in elementary school. She was reportedly fluent in Mongolian, Russian, Chinese and English, and knew some French.
Altantuya moved back to Mongolia in 1990 and a few years later married a Mongolian techno singer named Maadai. They had a child in 1996 but the marriage ended in divorce with the child being sent to live with Altantuya's parents. Despite training as a teacher, Altantuya briefly relocated to France to attend modelling school before returning to Mongolia. Her mother however, has said that her daughter had never worked as a model, to her knowledge.
Altantuya remarried and had another child in 2003, but the second marriage also ended in divorce. The second child was also put in the care of Altantuya's parents. She worked as a translator and often travelled out of Mongolia to countries like China, Singapore and Malaysia. Records indicate that she visited Malaysia at least twice; the first time in 1995 and the second in early 2006.
Relations to Najib Razak
It was alleged that she was introduced by then-Malaysian deputy prime minister Najib Razak to Abdul Razak Baginda, defence analyst and founder of the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre, at an international diamond convention in Hong Kong, though both parties have denied this version of events. This ensued with her having an affair with Baginda while accompanying him to Paris to work as a translator during his negotiations to purchase Scorpène-class submarines from France for the Malaysian government. In December 2007, Hong Kong-based news website Asia Sentinel published a series of photographs showing Altantuya sightseeing in France, coinciding with the time the deal for the Scorpène-class submarines was being brokered.
In April 2005, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, editor of Malaysia Today, published an explosive article entitled "Let's send the Altantuya murderers to hell" alleging the involvement of several high-ranking Malaysian politicians in the murders. Then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was accused of burying military intelligence reports incriminating Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, for political leverage. Kamaruddin then went on to sign a Statutory Declaration (SD) declaring that Mansor was present at the scene of the crime, alongside two military officials who were placing the explosives. Najib Razak has consistently and vehemently denied all allegations on the basis of never having met Altantuya, going so far as to perform an Islamic oath of condemnation (sumpah laknat) numerous times. Kamaruddin was charged under the now repealed Internal Security Act, which allowed detention without trial. He was released and fled the country in 2009 to evade subsequent arrest. He retracted these allegations in April 2011.
According to reports by the French newspaper Libération, Altantuya found out that one of the parties involved in negotiations, French company Armaris, paid out a 114 million euro commission for the deal (reportedly one billion euros or RM4.7 billion) for the purchase of three submarines. The commission was credited in the accounts of a company controlled by Baginda, Perimekar. A letter written by Altantuya recovered after her death shows that she had been blackmailing Baginda, seeking US$500,000 to remain silent about her knowledge of the deal. SUARAM secretariat, Cynthia Gabriel, commented that the Paris Courts have "extended its investigations with circumstances that led to Altantuya's death". However, the French Courts were not investigating the murder of Altantuya as it was focused on the alleged corruption within the DCNS with regards to the sale of the Scorpène submarines, but would deliberate on the murder in the course of the inquiry. On 25 June 2012, a French police investigation revealed that there were no immigration records of an "Altantuya Shaariibuu" entering France from 1999 to 2006. The same report noted instead the entry of a Shaariibuu Bayasgalan, who bore similarities to, but was not conclusively identified as Altantuya, also noting that Najib's entourage might have entered France through diplomatic channels as there was evidence of his presence but no corresponding immigration record. During the trial of Altantuya's death, Baginda told investigators that he had travelled with her to France in 2005. Records seized by French investigators from DCNS's former financial chief described Altantuya as Baginda's translator. On the other hand, Rosana Weili, the director of Perimekar, claimed that the negotiations were conducted in English as the French negotiators spoke English, downplaying Altantuya's involvement. Rosana also had "no knowledge of anyone by the name of Altantuya" in the negotiation team.
Murder
After it was realised she was missing, her cousin lodged a police report on 19 October 2006, and sought help from the Mongolian embassy in Bangkok. A paper trail involving Altantuya's personal diary and earlier police reports filed against Razak Baginda stating she feared for her life led Malaysian investigators to single him out. A private investigator he hired to follow Altantuya, P. Balasubramaniam (also known as P. I. Bala), told police that he witnessed Altantuya being forced into a vehicle by unknown men on the night of 19 October 2006.
Investigators traced the vehicle back to the police department, with subsequent analyses of phone logs incriminating Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri. During interrogation, Azilah implicated the involvement of his subordinate, Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, in the murder. They had been members of the elite Special Actions Unit (Malay: Unit Tindakhas) and were both assigned as bodyguards, to the office of the Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
In November 2006, both men led police to the murder site near the Subang Dam in Puncak Alam, Shah Alam, where fragments of bone were recovered — later verified through DNA analysis as Altantuya's. Blast kinetics revealed that military-grade explosives were used to dismember her corpse. Despite widespread speculation that C-4 explosives were used, 'C-4' was never mentioned in the formal charges put forth by the prosecution. The PETN and RDX recovered from the explosives are common constituents of both military plastic explosives (like C-4 and Semtex) and certain industrial explosives.
Having gathered sufficient evidence linking him to the murder, Razak Baginda was then arrested on 7 November 2006 and formally charged with abetment on 16 November 2006.
Trial and verdict
Trial
According to court testimony by Altantuya's cousin Burmaa Oyunchimeg, Altantuya had shown Burmaa a photograph of 3 persons taking a meal together: Altantuya, Razak Baginda, and a government official. 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 held 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 seeking 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 23 July 2008, the petition notice was rejected by the High Court. The High Court judge, Mohd Zaki, stated that "only the parties involved, namely the prosecution and the defence" had a right to submit the petition.
Acquittal of Abdul Razak Baginda
On 31 October 2008, the High Court acquitted Abdul Razak Baginda of abetment in the murder of Altantuya, with the prosecution saying they would appeal the acquittal. As of March 2009, the appeal had yet to transpire. However, 13 years later at a court hearing in the civil case brought against former policemen Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar, as well as Najib and the Malaysian government by Altantuya's father, incriminating evidence emerged against Baginda. The court was told in May 2022 that on the day of her disappearance, Altantuya had made a police report in which she suggested that authorities "look for Razak Baginda" if anything should happen to her.
Defence and witness
Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar were ordered to enter their defence and testify under oath. On 10 November 2008, it was announced that the murder trial was to be postponed to January 2009 to allow the defence more time to prepare and gather witnesses. The witnesses sought included Malaysia Today editor, Raja Petra Kamarudin and private investigator, P. Balasubramaniam, who was untraceable at that time.
The request by the defence counsel for Sirul Azhar and Azilah to get statements from all prosecution witnesses was rejected with the reason given that "witness statements recorded under Section 112 of the Criminal Procedure Code is privileged". This would have included the witness statement of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's former aide-de-camp DSP Musa Safri, which would have been used to rebut Razak Baginda's affidavit.
On 3 February 2009, Sirul Azhar pleaded with the court to not pass the death sentence on him, as he was like "a black sheep that has to be sacrificed" to protect unnamed people who have never been brought to court or faced questioning. "I have no reason to cause hurt, what's more to take the life of the victim in such a cruel manner... I appeal to the court, which has the powers to determine if I live or die, not to sentence me so as to fulfil others' plans for me."
Death sentence
On 9 April 2009, High Court Judge Zaki Yasin ruled that Sirul Azhar's and Azilah's statements were "unbelievable" as both of the accused only blamed each other. Both policemen were sentenced to death for the murder of Altantuya. Wrapping up the 159-day trial, Zaki said both of them failed to raise any reasonable doubt in the prosecution's case. However, their lawyers planned to file an appeal. Both policemen showed no emotion when they heard that they were sentenced to be hanged until dead. Their family members accepted the court's decision and denied any political elements in the verdict. The two policemen appealed their sentence in late August. The Court of Appeal fixed the date of their appellate hearing for 10 June 2013.
The lawyers of Altantuya's father, Shariibuu Setev's, applied for a review of the Attorney-General's decision not to appeal Abdul Razak Baginda's acquittal. The application was set to be heard at the High Court on 8 July 2009. Dr. Shariibuu later withdrew the application but said he would still proceed with the claim against Abdul Razak, Azilah, Sirul Azhar, and the Government of Malaysia for damages over Altantuya's death.
Sirul and Azilah were acquitted on 23 August 2013 by the Court of Appeal. Several reasons were given for the acquittal such as the failure of the prosecution to provide a strong motive for the two men to murder the victim and the failure to call for the cross-examination of Najib's aide Musa Safri and Najib Razak. The acquittals drew the derision of Altantuya's father, and many Malaysians.
The prosecution immediately made an appeal to the Federal Court over the acquittal of Azhar and Sirul, which was heard on 23 June 2014. The Federal Court overturned the acquittal of both individuals on 13 January 2015, finding them both guilty of murder, sentencing both of them to death.