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DATUK Seri Najib Razak today told the Shah Alam High Court that he had never met Mongolian model Altantuya Shaaribu and did not order former Special Action Unit policemen Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar to kill her.
Responding to questions from his lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, the former prime minister said he was innocent of the heinous crime of blowing her body up with explosives.
Muhammad Shafee had asked Najib if he had any knowledge of or connection to Altantuya, as claimed in chapter 42 of the book “My Story: Justice In The Wilderness” by former attorney-general Tan Sri Tommy Thomas.
"I have said this on record and religious oath numerous times," he said in his witness statement in his defamation suit against Thomas.
Najib, 71, claimed there were defamatory statements in the chapter which allegedly implicated him with the murder of Altantuya.
The former Pekan MP also criticised Thomas for failing to verify the claims made in the book, which was widely distributed in Malaysia and internationally.
Najib had also named book publishing company GB Gerak Budaya Enterprise Sdn Bhd in the suit.
Thomas and Gerak Budaya were represented by lawyers Alan Gomez and Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan.
"He wrote the book after leaving the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC), claiming that I was the mastermind behind the murder. It was published by the second defendant and distributed both locally and internationally.
"It is clear that he (Thomas) intended to smear my reputation," said Najib.
However, Najib told the court he knew Abdul Razak Baginda, a defence analyst who was involved in a deal to buy two submarines from France.
Asked how Razak came to be acquainted with Altantuya, Najib said he had learnt from media reports that she was purportedly an interpreter and he later got to know that they were in a romantic relationship.
The former Pekan MP filed the suit in 2021, claiming that Thomas had authored and caused the publication of the book linking him to the murder.
He claimed the defamatory statements implied that he had ordered former members of the Special Action Unit (UTK) Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar to kill Altantuya and that he had confused the public on the murder to cover his tracks.
Najib contended that his reputation was affected by the publication of the defamatory statements, and sought general, aggravated and exemplary damages against both defendants and an order for the defendants to remove the defamatory statements from the book.
The trial before judge Datuk Khadijah Idris resumes on June 30 next year. - October 11, 2024
