Malaysian court orders government, analyst to pay damages in Mongolian murder case

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian court has ordered the government and a political analyst, Abdul Razak Baginda, to pay a total of more than 9 million ringgit ($2 million) to the family of murdered Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu, media said on Wednesday.

The victim of one of Malaysia's most gruesome murders, her body was blown up with military-grade explosives in a forest on the edge of the capital, Kuala Lumpur, in 2006.

Two former members of the security detail of Najib Razak, then the defense minister, were convicted of the crime in 2015.

On Wednesday, Judicial Commissioner M Sumathi of the High Court set a deadline of 30 days for the payments, including interest, to be made to the solicitors of Altantuya’s father, Shaariibuu Setev, the Edge newspaper said.

The government and Abdul Razak were ordered to pay 4.7 million ringgit each, as well as costs of 25,000 ringgit to the family, the paper added.

Setev's lawyer, Sangeet Kaur Deo, confirmed the ruling when contacted by Reuters. Her law firm will hold the funds pending appeals by the government and Abdul Razak to the Court of Appeal, set for May 19.

Free Malaysia Today said Wednesday's payments comprise a figure awarded three years ago in a judgment by the High Court.

In 2022, domestic media have said, the High Court ordered the government, Abdul Razak, and former policemen Sirul Azhar Umar and Azilah Hadri to pay damages over Altantuya’s death, for which it held them responsible.

Civil society groups have linked the murder to Altantuya's role as an interpreter in Malaysia’s purchase of two French submarines in 2002.

Azilah's death sentence was later commuted to 40 years in jail, while Sirul Azhar fled to Australia before the verdict, being released from detention there in 2023.

In a 2019 court filing, Azilah accused ex-premier Najib Razak of ordering the killing, an accusation Najib has denied.