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Uuriintuya says
her and others' immigration entry records went missing
©The Star
(Used by permission)
By Chelsea L.Y. Ng and Cecil Fung
• Witness: Altantuya hoped to meet Razak through him
• Living up to his ‘private’ eye credentials
• ‘Diamond ring a gift from boyfriend’
THE Immigration entry records of Altantuya Shaariibuu and her
two Mongolian companions have been deleted, a High Court heard.
Uuriintuya Gal-Ochir, a friend of Altantuya who came to Malaysia together with
her last October, told the court that she discovered this when she was leaving
the country with the deceased’s father Dr Shaariibuu Setev on Nov 24.
This revelation came yesterday when the 30-year-old housewife, testifying as the
fourth prosecution witness, explained to Justice Mohd Zaki Md Yasin why she did
not leave the country together with Altantuya’s cousin Namiraa Gerelmaa on Oct
26.
Uuriintuya explained that she had lost her passport because it was held by
Altantuya, who had by then gone missing.
She said that when she was about to leave the country together with Dr
Shaariibuu, officers at the airport stopped her and asked how she entered the
country.
“There was no record of me, Namiraa and Altantuya entering Malaysia. The records
had been destroyed.
“Our entry details were deleted from the computer but I was holding a return
ticket,” she said on Day 7 of the murder trial.
Uuriintuya said that when the officers asked her whether she had entered the
country by land or sea, she showed them her ticket.
Karpal Singh, who is holding a watching brief for Altantuya’s family and the
Mongolian government, then pointed out that the matter had to be noted.
At this juncture, Justice Mohd Zaki checked his notes again to see what he had
jotted down.
Uuriintuya then continued her testimony saying that, although she was
accompanied by Mongolian honorary consul-general to Malaysia Datuk Syed Abdul
Rahman Al-Habshi, she was detained for two hours because airport authorities
said she had entered the country illegally.
Lead prosecutor DPP Tun Abd Majid Tun Hamzah then stood up and asked how
relevant this part of her testimony was to the case.
Turning to Uuriintuya, Justice Mohd Zaki asked if she finally managed to leave
the country, to which she replied “yes.”
Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin, counsel for Kpl Sirul Azhar Umar, then stood up to
say that the defence had yet to get a chance to cross-examine the witness on the
matter that had just been recorded.
“The answer is not an answer to the court’s question, it went much beyond,” he
said.
Justice Mohd Zaki told the lawyer that he could make submissions on the matter
if he wished because he already had it on record.
However, Kamarul Hisham pressed on and applied for leave to cross-examine the
witness.
DPP Tun Abd Majid stood up again, this time arguing that the matter was not
relevant to the case and that it should be expunged from the trial notes.
Kamarul Hisham then said: “I agree with the DPP. If it is expunged, then there
would be no need to cross.”
“Why expunge? Do you want to expunge or cross-examine?” Justice Mohd Zaki asked
the lawyer.
“Expunge,” replied Kamarul Hisham.
Finally, the judge made his ruling: “No need to expunge and no need to cross.”
Immediately after that, Uuriintuya, who was still in the witness stand, informed
the court that she wanted to say something.
The judge asked her why she had more to say when she was to step down from the
stand.
In a seemingly angry tone, Uuriintuya said: “We missed the plane because there
was no record in Beijing as well. So there was no record of us coming to
Malaysia through Beijing.”
Justice Mohd Zaki asked her why she was complaining since she has been allowed
to leave Malaysia.
“We’re wondering why our records were deleted,” she replied.
Turning to the prosecution, the judge asked if the investigating officer would
be called to the stand to clarify the matter.
Just as DPP Manoj Kurup replied in the affirmative, Uuriintuya was heard
speaking in Mongolian.
The prosecutor then remarked: “Your honour, the court is not a forum to make
statements.”
The witness was then discharged.
The trial continues today.
ALTANTUYA Shaariibuu had repeatedly opened her hotel room door to a man
despite his claiming that he was sent by Abdul Razak Baginda to kill her.
Her friend Uuriintuya Gal-Ochir told a High Court here yesterday that the
deceased had told her that she wanted to see her boyfriend Baginda just once and
since the man, K. Suras Kumar, was sent by him, she would have a better chance
to meet the political analyst.
“Altantuya said: ‘I believe Suras is the bodyguard of Razak Baginda. Through
him, I (Altantuya) can meet Razak’,” the 30-year-old Mongolian housewife
testified.
Uuriintuya, the fourth prosecution witness, said that she, Altantuya and the
latter’s cousin Namiraa Gerelmaa had stayed in a room in Hotel Malaya after
arriving here on Oct 8 last year.
She said that Suras once entered their room at 5am and slept on one of their
beds for five hours.
She said that the three of them did not leave the room despite a strange man
sleeping there.
“By right it was our room. I was pregnant. I didn’t want to leave. We asked
him to leave but he didn’t. We didn’t call the hotel security because we were
scared if we left, something might happen,” she said, adding that she was four
months pregnant then.
After Suras left the hotel room at 10am, Uuriintuya said the three of them
went to complain to the hotel manager.
“Altantuya told us that Razak Baginda is a big shot. He knows a lot of police
officers. No point lodging a police report,” she said, adding that Altantuya
finally lodged a report on Oct 19 last year when the threats became too much to
bear.
Later, a private investigator hired by Altantuya to check on Abdul Razak’s
movements testified as the fifth witness.
Ang Chong Beng, 56, said that Altantuya introduced herself as Amina when she
called him up mid-September last year.
He said that she wanted him to check whether her husband was in the country
or abroad.
“She told me Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda was her husband’s name,” he said.
Asked if he was paid for his services, Ang said that Altantuya had claimed
that she was poor and had no money.
“She said she would pay me when she got back to Mongolia. On Oct 1 last year,
she deposited US$600 (RM2,040) into my bank account,” he said.
Ang said that Abdul Razak’s private eye, P. Balasubramaniam, had told him to
stop Altantuya from lodging a police report after she was taken to the
Brickfields police station from outside the analyst’s house on Oct 17.
“He (Bala) said that Abdul Razak is a ‘top man’. He told me that he did not
want Abdul Razak’s name to come out in the newspapers in case something
happened.
“Bala told me to call Amina out of the police station and ‘settle’ the
matter,” he said.
Ang said Altantuya finally agreed to settle.
“She said that she would not lodge a report but asked for US$500,000
(RM1.7mil) from Abdul Razak.
“Bala said that he would convey the message to Abdul Razak,” the witness
said.
Living up to his ‘private’ eye credentials
ANG Chong Beng, the 56-year-old private investigator hired by the late Altantuya
Shaariibuu last year, is a private man indeed.
So private is he that he managed to evade press photographers throughout the
seven days of the murder trial.
Yesterday, he tried to give photographers the slip again after he had testified
as the fifth prosecution witness.
Ang stayed hidden from view for close to an hour after proceedings had ended
while the photographers searched for him.
He finally emerged about 5.50pm armed with a large envelope over his face,
sending the photographers swarming towards him as he scurried away.
As the cameras clicked in his direction, Ang asked the pressmen to leave him
alone.
He even tried negotiating with them, saying that he would let them take his
pictures today.
The photographers in turn begged for only three seconds with him, telling him
that they had to do their job.
Ang was so desperate to retain his anonymity that he finally called a police
officer on his cellphone to rescue him.
At 6.10pm, a dark-blue, heavily-tinted police Pajero drove up to the courthouse
foyer.
Despite the rescue the photographers managed to snap his picture, albeit with
the envelope resolutely held in front of his face.
‘Diamond ring a gift from boyfriend’
A DIAMOND ring, said to have been given to Altantuya Shaariibuu by her Malaysian
boyfriend, was tendered as an exhibit in court.
Uuriintuya Gal-Ochir, the deceased’s friend who had come to Malaysia together
with Altantuya last year, identified the diamond-studded gold ring as that
belonging to the victim.
“She told me her boyfriend bought it for her. I believe it was (Abdul) Razak (Baginda)
who bought the ring for her because her boyfriend is Razak,” she told the court.
The ring has a large clear stone in the centre with smaller stones decorating
the sides.
Uuriintuya had testified that Altantuya wore the ring on the night of Oct 19
last year, when she went missing from outside Abdul Razak’s house.
Besides the ring, a pair of earrings with black stones was also tendered as
exhibit.
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