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Kuala Lumpur: A Mongolian woman demanded half a million dollars from
her ex-lover, a close associate of Malaysia’s deputy prime
minister, two days before she was murdered, a court was told on
Tuesday.
Altantuya Shaariibuu, 28, made the demand after
causing a commotion outside the home of Abdul Razak Baginda, 47, who
is charged with abetting her murder, a private investigator told the
trial of Abdul Razak and two police officers.
Prosecutors say that Abdul Razak planned
Altantuya’s murder and ordered the two police officers—members
of a special unit charged with protecting the country’s
leaders—to carry it out.
The woman was killed by “probable
blast-related” injuries in Shah Alam district southwest of the
capital Kuala Lumpur, prosecutors say.
Abdul Razak, a political analyst, is close to
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has vehemently denied any
involvement in the sensational case, seen by observers as a test of
Malaysia’s judicial and political integrity.
All three defendants face the death penalty if
convicted.
Private investigator P. Balasubramaniam,
the first prosecution witness called to testify, told the court
Tuesday that Abdul Razak had hired him for 4,000 ringgit ($1,170) to
keep Altantuya away from him.
On the opening day of the trial on Monday,
prosecutors alleged that Abdul Razak and Altantuya met in 2004 and
had a relationship, during which he gave her money.
After they broke up in 2005, he allegedly
continued to give her money whenever she demanded. The payments
stopped last year, which angered her and prompted her to travel to
Malaysia in October, the prosecution said.
Balasubramaniam testified that he began working
for Abdul Razak on October 13 or 14 last year.
About two days into the job, he saw Altantuya
and two other women briefly stop outside Abdul Razak’s home in a
taxi, he said.
On October 17, he testified, he went to Abdul
Razak’s home after he called and said the woman —whom he knew by
the name “Aminah”—was outside.
The investigator said Altantuya had her own
private eye, Ang Chong Beng, who was sitting in a car observing the
incident.
He said he called police, and a patrol car took
him and Altantuya to a police station. She was not arrested, but
wanted to file a police report, he said.
Prosecutors allege that the next day, when
Altantuya returned to Abdul Razak’s house, he called police. The
two accused officers allegedly took her away, never to be seen alive
again.
--AFP
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