A policeman who is accused of murdering Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu yesterday denied in court that he was at the murder scene. Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 31, also denied telling Ms Altantuya's former lover, political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, that 'you can sleep in peace tonight'. However, he admitted in the High Court that he had 'settled' the analyst's problem that night. Azilah, a member of an elite police unit that guards VVIPs, and another policeman, Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 36, are accused of killing Ms Altantuya and blowing up her remains in a jungle in Puncak Alam, near Shah Alam, between Oct19 and Oct20, 2006.
Azilah testified last week that Mr Musa Safri, the aide-de-camp of Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, had asked him to help Mr Abdul Razak. The latter was allegedly being blackmailed by Ms Altantuya, who Azilah had referred to in court as a 'Chinese woman'.
Mr Abdul Razak, a close friend of Datuk Seri Najib, was acquitted of abetting the murder late last year. The affiliations with Mr Najib had given his political enemies the room to link him to the murder case.
During Azilah's cross-examination yesterday, he repeatedly denied that he was at the crime scene with Sirul on the night of the murder. 'I was in my office in Bukit Aman and I went for supper with my fiancee, Norazila (Baharudin),' Azilah replied when questioned by lead prosecutor Majid Hamzah.
He also stuck to his testimony that his intention of going to Mr Abdul Razak's house with Sirul was to merely pick up Ms Altantuya and take her back to her hotel, as advised by Mr Abdul Razak. He maintained that he had left Ms Altantuya with Sirul later and had asked him to send her back to the hotel.
Azilah, however, clarified that he had not checked with Sirul again if MsAltantuya had been sent back to the hotel. He said that he had called Mr Abdul Razak when he was back at his office. 'I considered the problem 'settled',' he said. But he denied that 'settled' meant killing the woman.
Said Tun Majid: 'I say to you, (Abdul) Razak's problem ended that night after you and Sirul shot and blew up Altantuya in Puncak Alam.'
'Disagree,' replied Azilah.