11-7-2024 (KUALA LUMPUR) In a significant development in the high-profile murder case of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu, the Malaysian High Court has ordered political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda and several others to pay RM5 million (S$1.44 million) in damages to the victim’s family. The ruling stems from Abdul Razak’s decision not to testify under oath, leading the court to infer that his evidence would have been adverse to his defense.
Abdul Razak, a close associate of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and a known advisor to the convicted leader during his tenure as defense minister, was the third defendant in the civil action brought by Altantuya’s family.
In a 90-page judgment released last week, High Court Judge Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera stated that the court had no choice but to invoke adverse inference under Section 114(g) of the Evidence Act 1950, given Abdul Razak’s refusal to testify or call witnesses on his behalf.
“There is a clear oblique motive on the part of the third defendant in electing to submit that there is no case to answer and thereby not testifying under oath or calling witnesses on his behalf,” Justice Vazeer said, adding that the court is entitled to presume the likelihood of any fact based on common natural events, human behavior, and public and private activities as they relate to the specific facts of the case.
On December 16, 2022, Justice Vazeer, now a Federal Court judge, allowed Altantuya’s family’s suit and ordered the defendants to jointly pay the plaintiffs RM5 million in general, aggravated, and exemplary damages. Apart from Abdul Razak, the family named former chief inspector Azilah Hadri, Sirul Azhar Umar, and the government as the first, second, and fourth defendants, respectively. The judge also ordered the four defendants to pay RM25,000 in costs each.
Justice Vazeer stated that Abdul Razak was “complicit” in the killing, as he was the only link between the deceased and the first and second defendants. The judge said that while the first and second defendants did not know the deceased, Abdul Razak had wanted the harassment and embarrassment caused by her to stop.
“In the circumstance, I find that the plaintiffs have successfully proved on a balance of probabilities that the third defendant had a culpable role in the death of the deceased,” Justice Vazeer said. “If not for the third defendant, the first and second defendants would not have taken the deceased in their car from the third defendant’s residence and ultimately kill her. The circumstantial evidence of conspiracy is overwhelming.”
The court also found that the evidence presented by the plaintiffs, both direct and circumstantial, collectively converged and overwhelmingly proved the conspiracy between the first, second, and third defendants to cause the unlawful death of the deceased.
In granting the compensation, the court said the RM5 million sum was “fair and adequate” to be awarded globally as vindicatory damages, condemning the “serious wrong done to the deceased by serving police officers” and recognizing the “gross violation of the deceased’s constitutional right to life.”
On June 4, 2007, Altantuya’s parents – Dr. Shaariibuu Setev and Ms. Altantsetseg Sanjaa – and their grandson Mungunshagai Bayarjargal filed a suit against the defendants, seeking RM100 million in damages. In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs said the model’s death resulted in them suffering mental shock and psychological trauma, and sought compensation as well as exemplary and aggravated damages.
While Abdul Razak was initially charged alongside Sirul and Azilah but acquitted at the end of the prosecution’s case on October 31, 2008, the former policemen were convicted in 2009 for Altantuya’s murder. After a series of appeals, the Federal Court upheld the High Court’s conviction and reinstated the death penalty on both men in 2015.
