He says he 'gave' the Mongolian woman to Azilah, the other former policeman convicted of the 2006 murder.
Sirul Azhar Umar says he fears for his safety in prison if he returns to Malaysia.
PETALING JAYA: Sirul Azhar Umar, now in Australian custody after fleeing a death sentence for the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu 12 years ago, has again said he was a scapegoat “in an elaborate political crime”, but denied he had ever confessed to killing the Mongolian woman.
In an interview with The Guardian, Sirul, who was sentenced to death together with his former colleague, Azilah Hadri, for killing Altantuya before blowing up her body with explosives in a jungle clearing in Shah Alam, said it was not him who pulled the trigger.
“I bring her halfway along the road, I give her to Azilah,” he said, and questioned Azilah’s alibi suggesting that Sirul was the last person with her.
“I am not a bad person, but the case makes me out as bad,” he said.
In 2015, the Federal Court upheld the death sentence on Sirul and Azilah. But Sirul was later found to have fled to Australia, and has since been detained in a Sydney immigration centre.
Under Australian laws, he cannot be deported to Malaysia if he has to face the death sentence.
The Altantuya murder attracted attention due to the involvement of Abdul Razak Baginda, once an aide to former prime minister Najib Razak.
Razak, who was charged alongside Sirul and Azilah, was acquitted without his defence being called. He had also confessed to having an affair with the Mongolian woman.
The case has also been linked to Malaysia’s purchase of two French submarines, a deal which is still under investigation in France for alleged kickbacks involving a company linked to Razak.
Following Pakatan Harapan’s electoral victory on May 9, Sirul said he was prepared to return to Malaysia and expose those he said were behind the murder.
But Sirul, in the interview with The Guardian, rejected a recent suggestion by a lawyer for Altantuya’s family to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment.
“Singh wants me to serve a life sentence,” he said, referring to lawyer Ramkarpal Singh. “I don’t want to go back. People say: ‘Don’t give a pardon.’ I would be killed in jail,” he said.
Ramkarpal: Reject Sirul’s offer, but here’s how to get him back to Malaysia
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