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©New
Straits Times (Used by permission)
by Rita Jong
SHAH ALAM: Murder accused Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri's call detail records
should not be adduced as evidence, the High Court heard yesterday.
Counsel J. Kuldeep Kumar, who is representing Azilah, said
three telephone logs which placed Azilah at the crime scene the night Altantuya
Shaariibuu was murdered should instead be excluded based on three grounds:
- The data and the statements were not authentic and were disputed;
- The computer which produced the data malfunctioned; and
- The data contained in the computer printouts were
inaccurate, unreliable and prejudicial.
The three computer printout logs include the raw data of Azilah's telephone
transactions, the call logs which included the site names, location area code
and cell identification, and the extraction of data from both the earlier
documents.
Kuldeep, who was making defence submissions at the end of the
prosecution case yesterday, said there was a possibility that the documents were
tampered with and altered as there was a break in the chain of evidence.
"The logs also had no references, no cover letter bearing the letterhead of
telecommunication centres (like Celcom and Maxis) letter head, and they were not
signed by the general manager.
"Therefore, we submit that these documents were not authentic, unreliable and
should be rejected."
He said the admissibility of Azilah's raw data call records were also disputed
as they did not satisfy conditions specified under the Evidence Act 1950, as the
person who printed the documents was not responsible for the management and
operation of the computer.
He also said that there were technical mistakes in the scripts during the
extraction of data and alleged that the programmer, Syed Mustaqim Syed Yusoff,
had a lackadaisical attitude.
"There were also 117 discrepancies between the logs, a number too many for the
court to accept any explanation for the differences.
"There was also upgrading in Celcom's network and that the values of the cell
identification and location area code changed constantly."
Therefore, he said, the data parameters were not certified and were inaccurate
as they did not show the actual position of Azilah on the night of the alleged
murder.
"There was also no standard operating procedure in changing the information on
the documents and that it was not supervised by the head of department"
"This is dangerous as information can be altered."
He said the location area code and cell identification columns in the logs were
also interchanged.
"This caused a guessing game about where the correct values for both the data
should be. There was also missing data in the logs which could have exonerated
my client."
Azilah, 31, and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 36, both Special Action Squad
members, are charged with murdering Altantuya at Mukim Bukit Raja, Selangor,
between 10pm on Oct 19 and 1am the following day.
Abdul Razak Baginda, 47, a political analyst, is charged with abetting them.
Submissions before High Court judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin continue today.
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