Members of the public should lodge police reports nationwide to compel the police to investigate possible negligence in the prosecution of the two Special Action Unit (UTK) personnel who were today acquitted of the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

NONE In saying this, Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng urged that police reports be also lodged against those in charge of the investigating the case, for either "purposely or negligently producing material witnesses and evidence in court".

Lim, a practising lawyer, added when contacted, "I urge all who are dissatisfied with the verdict to lodge police reports.

"I will do so tomorrow. We need to know if this has been done negligently, or intentionally with a hidden agenda."

NONE The DAP parliamentarian ( right ) said the team investigating the complaints of negligence should be completely independent from the police officers who had investigated the killing of Altantuya.

He also urged that the Attorney-General's Chambers appoint a "completely new team" to handle to appeal against the acquittal of the two UTK officers.

"This is the only way. Yes, the present team must file the appeal and after that, let a new team deal with it, and let investigations commence for negligence," Lim added.

The three-member bench of the Court of Appeal found serious misdirections on the part of the High Court judge in convicting former UTK personnel Sirul Azhar Umar and Azilah Hadri.

The misdirections included not calling then deputy prime minister and defence minister Najib Abdul Razak's former aide-de-camp DSP Musa Safri and failure to take into consideration the police station diary that stated that Azilah was at Bukit Aman at the material time.

Fresh probe will reveal real perpetrators

In backing Lim's proposal, Padang Serai MP N Surendran said re-opening the police investigation would not affect the appeal against the the acquittal of Sirul Azhar and Azilah, since fresh evidence cannot be introduced at this point.

NONE "But it can bring out the truth on all other perpetrators, which has previously been hidden, since the motives of Sirul and Azilah were never established in court.

"If other people, or the real perpetrators, are found in the fresh investigations, they can still be charged as there is no statute on limitations for murder," said Surendran, a practising lawyer.

The PKR vice-president also pointed out that any attempt to hide evidence or tamper with justice is a crime, and the prosecution team could be hauled up for that if it had indeed done so.

"I agree that a new team should be put in place, as the prosecution has failed miserably.

"However, I believe the team's failure is not through incompetence," he said.

While the Court of Appeal decision was "shocking", Surendran said, it was not entirely unexpected as the Altantuya case has been "a damage control exercise" right from the beginning.

A cover up?

"The whole country saw that the main aim of the authorities was not to find those guilty of the crime and bring justice but to hide the truth. From the beginning, it was about protecting an Umno leader.

ijok by election nomination day 190407 mongolian altantuya "A terrible and gruesome murder has been committed and not a single person is held accountable. The real perpetrator is unknown," Surendran told Malaysiakini .

He said suspicion over the integrity of investigations and prosecution arose much earlier, when the prosecution did not appeal the verdict that set free defence analyst and now Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's close associate, Abdul Razak Baginda, of the charge of abettment in the murder.

Abdul Razak was charged with abetting Sirul Azhar and Azilah of the murder of the Mongolian beauty, but was acquitted in 2008 without his defence called.

At the time of her death, Sirul Azhar and Azilah alternated as bodyguards for then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his then deputy, Najib.

Najib was never called to testify in the murder hearing and he has also sworn on the Quran that he never knew Altantuya.

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