#7 TOP STORY OF 2022: A new witness provides more details on the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu

The case of Altantuya Shaariibuu must be immediately reopened

This story shed some new light on the Altantuya murder, arguing for a reopening of the investigation. It had 8,200 reads here.

A new witness has emerged in the Altantuya Shaariibuu case. This is just after Deepak Jaikishan did a long interview on Jom Malaysia recently.

In a very recent interview businessman Deepak Jaikishan claimed that the order to kill Mongolian model, and translator Altantuya Shaariibuu implicates directly former prime minister Najib Razak, who is currently in Kajang Prison serving a 12 year term, and his wife Rosmah Mansor in the murder.

Najib and Rosmah were never called up to testify in the trial. Deepak claims that the order to kill Altantuya was allegedly given by Najib at Rosmah’s insistence, at their Jalan Langgak house.

Deepak described in great detail the events leading to the order to kill, which eventually led to the conviction then chief inspector Azilah Hadri and corporal Sirul Azhar Umar of murdering Altantuya.

Azilah and Sirul were highly trained Unit Tindakan Khas (Special Action Unit) police officers who took orders and carried them out without question.

There is now conjecture that Azilah and Sirul never received a fair trial back in 2015.

Interview with a new witness: Sirul’s migration agent in Sydney

The writer recently conducted an in-depth interview with Sirul’s Migration Agent, Mr Robert Chelliah, when he was interned in Sydney’s Villawood Immigration Detention Centre.

A summary of the interview is as follows:

·        Chelliah’s description of events is compatible with other accounts given by other investigative journalists.

·        There is a massive cover up over who gave the order to kill Altantuya.

·        Somebody has been financing Sirul for a number of years. Indications this goes back to UMNO.

In a quotation from the Asia Sentinel written back in 2015, the following was exposed:

“He is in the hands of lawyers from the United Malays National Organization, who apparently have told him to shut up. One is Hasnal Rezua Merican, an UMNO Youth division leader, and the other is Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin, a former deputy prosecutor who represented Sirul during his original trial and who, when he received his datukship, was described as “of UMNO headquarters.” Sirul, having spent the better part of the past eight years in jail, is presumably destitute, or close to it. That raises the question whether UMNO is paying for his legal fees, and raises a further question why the country’s biggest political party, and the leading party in the government, is paying the bills for a fugitive and convicted murderer. Sirul’s son is also being cared for in Australia by unknown sources.”

·        The fact that both Azilah and Sirul were highly trained Unit Tindakan Khas (Special Action Unit) police officers, indicates they were acting for people within the highest echelons of power.

·        Finally, with Sirul’s indefinite detention in the Villawood Centre, without much hope of getting out in a very long time, the Australian Government has colluded with the people funding Sirul. And the Australian Government itself.

 The case of Altantuya Shaariibuu must be immediately reopened. There must also be an investigation into Australian Government collaboration with those silencing Sirul.

You can listen to the audio here:

The transcript of Robert Chelliah’s interview is below.

Robert Chiellah:

1.      Assisting Sirul get Australian visa protection

Okay. Uh, okay. What shall I say? Okay. Um, uh, okay. The time when Sirul was arrested in Malaysia mm-hmm. <affirmative> in Australia, um, I was in a forum, and in the forum, the chat group was, people were excited, all educated professionals, lawyers, excited that now still can be brought back to Malaysia. Then I responded by saying, no, even the worst criminal has caught her some criminal justice available to him. And that's an exhibition which he can resist. Um, in the forum, I think there was this lawyer, Huna Huna and Chambers something. And, uh, he contacted me in the private chat and, uh, asked me some details. I told him that, um, Australia doesn't readily extradite anyone, uh, who is facing a death sentence. Um, and there are various visas that a person can apply for. And, um, so the lawyer say, Can I please come with him to Sydney and assist in lodging the, um, complimentary protection visa, which I told the lawyer that maybe the appropriate one.

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, but then he said, Yes, no money, um, to pay my fees. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I said, Okay, I'm quite happy to do pro bono. But I also told him, this is not merely the work of a migration agent. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, he would need a barrister because it will end up in a judicial process, even to the high court of Australia. So they asked, Do I know any, uh, barrister who can do pro bono? I said, Well, I don't know, but I will find out. So I rang a friend of mine, uh, a lawyer, and he said he cannot do pro bono, but he's quite happy to reduce his fees, uh, provided I help him do the, uh, background work for him. So I convey this to the, So the Malaysian thing, they say, Okay. Um, and nothing came out of it. I went back to Perth.

After a week of Perth, I receive a call from the lawyer to say, Robert, can you fly to Sydney and engage this, um, uh, barrister and we want to talk to him and engage them? And I said, But they, here, the law barrister will charge. They said, No problem. Now they've got enough money. So we met in Sydney. My half fair was paid, but, um, and we met at the, um, barrister's office, and we went through the preliminary issues, um, of the complement, uh, protection visa. What are the ingredients? And there are many questions raised. Can he now be sent to another country to seek refuge, uh, while the case is on? Can he be released on bail and blah, blah, blah.

Then, uh, we said, No, that couldn't be done. While we were, there were three of them, two lawyers, and one guy whom later I discovered to be from Amor Jehovah Youth being also solid. And he was furiously taking note of all the conversation. Um, he didn't say any word. He didn't ask any question. He was merely recording what is being discussed. So I became quite alert to that situation and I alerted my colleague, the barrister, and told him to win. So they agreed to engage us, and we discussed the fees, um, and uh, the fees force, um, 20,000 for the barrister in 5,000 for me as a case manager. And we signed a new form. And, um, they went back. Um, then as a case manager, uh, I was, uh, given the contract of C'S Mobile phone, and, uh, I started establishing contact with him and he had a lot of, uh, his son was with him also in Australia, and he was very anxious. Several, um, is immediate thing is can he be released on some kind of bail? All the application is on. I said, No, that would not be possible.

Um, so I started briefing Sirul on what is known as schedule three. Schedule three is mitigating where a person is applying for a substantial visa, and where there is an issue of Schedule three character that has got to be overcome. So, um, my main counseling was both in English and in Malay. I told Sirul, he has got a convicted, uh, offense in Malaysia, and he has to convince the minister that he's not inherently a criminal. He has to mitigate, show remorse and say, um, he is not what we call inherently a criminal. Um, there was circumstances, census, external circumstances, which had caused the commission of the offense. And we have to explore what are the external, um, forces that made him commit that crime, which in would involve the whole history of how the murder took place. Why did he pull the trigger, how the murder was done, all that. And, uh, he was not initially willing to be a party to that. He was trying to, uh, we were around at direct points. Uh, but I kept my course very firmly. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I say, If you want freedom, you have to face that issue and you have to convince the minister that it is safe for the minister to release you into the community. And you can, the minister will only be convinced if he's satisfied that he will not, you will not commit a similar offense in Australia.

Then he never answered the question, although I put it in many ways, How did the murder take place? He never directly described, but I didn't want to push him at the early stage. But I told him at some point, you have to be clear in your narrative or description. Um, his main thing was he kept on saying she's a prostitute. Um, she came to Malaysia to destroy the minister. That's why she was killed. That was his brainwash. I said, Alright. But after it went on, there were a lot of issues of what is staying the detention, his food.

2.      Malaysian lawyers with access to funds appeared in Sydney

Then the important thing is the lawyers were flying in and out s class staying in five star hotel. And, um, it appeared to me that money was no more an issue. And they appointed a chap called Esan in Australia. Uh, he call himself Dato Gian, and I asked him, Who is this Dato? I asked him, he says, It was, that title was given to him by aul. I said, Which Saltan? It was one of the zoos. So, and he was appointed as the butler to take care of Zeror Zero's food running around, fixing him. And that costs us. And every month Garison was paid outta four, $500 or $10, and one or two occasion the payment was delayed. Gunnison would tell me, Robert, can you please tell the lawyers to send my fees? May, you know, later I discovered Eson was recommended to the lawyers by the Australian High Commissioner in Australia. Now, uh,

Murray Hunter:

Australian or

Robert Chiellah:

Malaysia? Malaysia. Oh, Malaysia. High commissioner in Australia. Sorry. Um, then, uh, I was, I was interested both as a case manager and also I had a commitment, personal interest, to make sure justice is served to the victim. Because I know the whole history of the murder trial, how a lot of relevant evidence was suppressed, you know, uh, like the motive for the murder was not established. The judge simply said, Motive is not where, it's not relevant. In this case, the judge said only the murder had taken place. That's sufficient. And you.

3.      Sirul a member of the Special Action Unit

Murray Hunter:

Told me last night he came from this elite 36.

Robert Chelliah:

Yeah. Yeah. Now, the background to civil is he comes from a, a unit, special unit trained in, and, and they are what we call special defense unit to defend the ministers to the exem. If they have to pull the trigger to kill someone, they will have to do it, um, without questioning. And si told me he's actually this unit voice, especially selected from low self-esteem, uh, not highly educated, not intelligent people, but they, their thinking is profiled and they will be given the kind of elevated to a kind. That's the impression I had elevated to a level. They become attached to the new status without questioning.

So, okay. It went on for sometimes there were a lot of issues in, and there's only, what, 36 of them in this unit? Yeah, There's, I forgot the unit called some special unit (Special Action Unit) in the prime Ministers under the mu suffering here. He's head of that unit, you know, under their control. Um, there are two, what Sid told me is one side, what we all know from the media and the public court trial is another thing, you know? So I had the preview of both the pictures and I wanted Sirul to tell me exactly his version, but he kept on avoiding the two because the Malaysian lawyers had briefed him not to open his mouth, and they said they will look after him, they will get his freedom and they will get his, um, uh, released somehow, you know, using diplomatic contact that time, Najib was in powered, but there, the lawyers briefing counseling to this zero ran contrary to the objectives of the, um, uh, complimentary, uh, protection visa, complementary protection Visa requires the convicted criminal to be absolutely truthful and remorse. Um, and, and we genuinely able to confess why he did the event. Was it one time error of judgment, external forces that made him, but civil was not very, um, forthcoming. He, he, all the time he's thinking of how to blackmail the Malaysian government. He was asking the Malaysian government 25 million, 18 million to keep his mouth zipped, and the lawyers were keeping quiet.

So the came situation when I felt the Department of Immigration was also not, uh, very forthright in their dealing, and I had grants suspect their pay paying more heat to diplomatic relationships to appease the Malaysian government, you know. So somehow, um, um, I contacted, um, at that time when I became the, uh, lot of media guys from Reuters and this media, the senior, they used to contact me, Robert, what do you know about this? Can you tell me about this? And I had to observe my professional ethics and couldn't tell exactly what I know inside, but when I felt the justice is going to be compromised, uh, and, and, and, and c is not going to get his complimentary because he's being counseled in the wrong direction to keep his mouth shut. So I contacted, uh, Claire. Claire flew in from UK. We had a midnight discussion, and she brought this one politician <inaudible>.

And, uh, we planned and then we said, Okay, we have to alert, uh, the ministers, other ministers in the Australian government not to compromise justice. So claimant, and so the home minister at that time and briefed him. And, uh, I'm not a privy to what I discuss, but I'm told Claire told me that they will and engage, they will do the right thing. Um, then it went on for about nearly six months, the lawyers would fly in and out, fly in or, and meet him and, uh, um, and, and, uh, give whatever serial ask for.

Then I contacted Mary and Jolly and told Marion, We have to open up this case, make it public no more. Kept it under carpet, you know, So Mary and Jo, I told her where various information, sir, she went and got her the those things. And um, and she wrote, uh, she prepared a documentary. It took her three months to prepare the documentary, and I was, she was using me as a, she was El Jira Al Jazeera, yeah. Yeah (see documentary above). And she was using me as a consultant, uh, on various things. Um, and that news broke out. And when that broke out, it became very open. And probably the, the department was quite aware that there might must have been people behind who would've leaked a lot of information, you know, And she tried to interview him. The department wouldn't let any of these journalists to interview, uh, zero, you know. Uh, but anyway, the news was broken into the World News, and it was quite only thing it was mentioned is they identified who the lawyer is and who the case officer manager was. That's all you know.

Um, now there came a point when Sill agreed, he will mitigate, he will accept my counseling. So I told him the way to do it is you start your whole background, your life background to show that you are a person of no average character, you know, and that the why you come into offense, and that in future general, good, generally future wellness, your character in the future past and future character other than the isolated offense. That's a from of how to narrate. So he started writing eight, nine pages where he started in Malay. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, where he started his background life. When the lawyers heard about it, they, um, stopped him from talking to me, and they complained about me to the solicitor minister saying, Robert is giving this guy wrong advice. No. And I think the barrister told him no. Schedule three requires that, uh, c to conf to tell the truth and, and mitigate, to reduce Mea Culpa.

Um, then there were a lot of things there. Special Branch was involved. They came and interviewed him. Politicians came and interviewed him, um, to Mahathir was involved. He tried to persuade, uh, Sirul to change the lawyer, and that Monte would appoint his, so lawyer, new lawyer for Seal, and Monte will use his influence to rescue him. And the, and the Malaysia lawyers told him not to listen to all that nonsense, you know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, so, uh, Sirul was quite desperate. He wanted his daughter to come to Australia to visit him, and he asked me to apply for visitor visa for the daughter to come. I applied. That was rejected. Mm, Yes. Sorry. Rejected. Yes. Because uh, they say if the daughter comes here too, we'll be seeking refugee status, you know? So, um, uh, a whole lot of things. In the end, what happened is si was detained not because of the rate alert or the, he overstay by one day when he went to renew the two, three, um, and um, uh, what do you call, um, um, then only the day he went to renew the next day the rate alert was issued.

Um, we identify, I identify that who are the people were tracking,

Murray Hunter:

But, uh, as far as I understand, if you overstay in Australia,

Robert Chelliah:

Yeah,

Murray Hunter:

There's no enforcement. There's so many people overstaying.

Robert Chelliah:

Yeah. You

Murray Hunter:

Just become one of, uh, a hundred thousand people who are overstaying

Robert Chelliah:

In. You could have, you could have, uh, then the rate alert, Interpol rate alert would've activated to look for him. But his advice in Australia was his brother-in-law, you know, had persuaded him to come to Australia, will hide you. And on the last day of his tourist visa, he went TOS and to apply to renew. And I think it missed by one midnight or one night, you know? So,

Murray Hunter:

So immigration was very pedantic.

Robert Chelliah:

Yeah. Normally they would

Murray Hunter:

Be, they would handle that.

Robert Chelliah:

Yeah. When, uh, I do not know whether, when they looked at his application for tourist visa, whether they were aware of the Interpol or not, it all happened very closely within hours. Mm-hmm. Uh, late previous night and the next morning. Mm-hmm. You know, so that, that was, uh, issue. Um, I mean there were, I felt money was not a problem for zero. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it was felt taken care of. I felt politically Najib was funding quite, and the lawyers, the way they were flying in and out, the questioner was where did they get the money from? For one, they're not doing it out of charity. No. Um, and they were given enormous power, authority and, and so on. Uh, at one time I felt there were two, uh, uh, three units working all to support, to suppress. I felt there was a interest, especially pointer interest from JI'S office monitoring.

There was a special officer, which I confirmed from the special branch. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> authorized to make sure it's under contained, the process contained. And the third one was from the, um, no, you know, all three had the same agenda to make sure still doesn't open his mouth and spill, but each one working in their own, uh, agenda. Uh, so there came a time when I felt, uh, I was useless because my advice Tosil was not accepted, which is required, so I resign. Um, but in the end, it turned out Sirul had to do what I had to tell him. He had to mitigate that why he committed the murder and so on, you know, But his application was refused. Um, and he didn't somehow, he didn't want to appeal for whatever reason, you know.

Murray Hunter:

So he is still in Villawood?

Robert Chelliah:

Now? Yeah. Still in, uh, Villawood, Yeah. Willwood Detention Center. Um, and that would cost every few million dollars to keep him know.

Murray Hunter:

So you think the Australian government and Malaysia in collusion?

Robert Chelliah:

At one time, not collusion, the Morrison government was trying to appease diplomatically the Malaysia government, you know, they gave free entry to people who wanted to go and see him. Others, they didn't allow, you know, to see cil. So from there I detected,

Murray Hunter:

But did Sirul ever tell you who gave him the order?

Robert Chelliah:

I No, he never told. All he told was two of them were involved. Yeah. You know, he, he avoided that question. Then the detailed before you could come to that, he came after page nine, and before you could any further, he was stopped because he was influenced. If he keeps his mouth shut, he will get his freedom and whatever money he wanted. So he right from the beginning, he didn't want to open up, That was his key. Yep. To freedom you thought. Mm-hmm. You know, by keeping his mouth, uh, zipped. So when there was a change of government, Najib was thrown out, Mahathir came in, probably he felt he should have joined. 

Murray Hunter:

Mahathir never helped him?

Robert Chelliah:

No, no, no. Yeah. Uh, Mahathir was not interested in helping him. Mahathir was interested in making a political issue out of it Yeah. To get Najib. So I don't know whether there are enough things.

I mean, um, we know that, uh, who the special branch, they've got a file, special branch file on several, um, all the thing, what are we thought was tracked, The people will be with, involved with this case, were monitored, tracked, you know. So you must have a nice file there too. Oh, yes, that's for sure. <laugh> must be next to mine. <laugh>. So, but I knew who the special branch officer. Yeah. And I got his name in the file, so I rang him one day. Yeah. And I said, Look, don't have to do all this clandestine tracking. Uh, I can come to office and we can have a cup of coffee Yeah. And we can be open about it, <laugh>. Yes. You know, so, and, um, but every one of them were interested how to get cereal out of, and they were going to buy him a house in Sydney. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, uh, a million dollar house. And, um, Garon was asked to look for a house. He was given a lot of hope. Zero. Yeah. Yeah. You know, um, hope of freedom, settlement money, you know, And, and, and the important thing is private form and its diary. They recorded all the phone numbers of the super intelligence, uh, guys laid into the hands of some media people. I mean, Maryanne. Yeah. And, and, um, uh, we are a full, uh, background. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> office importance, you know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yes.

So this unit in the PMs department, what did, what did he tell you about that? 36? The unit in the PM's department? The bmo? Yeah. I, I forgot the name. Special unit. Yeah. Um, he told me quite a lot. They are special trained killers to defend ministers. And wherever they went, they followed the ministers, you know, to defend them.

Murray Hunter:

I've seen the bodyguard, I've, I've seen many. Yeah. And when I travel with ministers Yeah. And, and, uh, royalty. Royalty, Yeah. So royalty and ministers. Yeah. Yeah. I've

Robert Chelliah:

Seen them. They're given the same blue stripped Italian suit.

Murray Hunter:

Yeah. And, and, uh, they're well

Robert Chelliah:

Armed. Well

Murray Hunter:

Armed. I, I knew them at the ella in a Yeah. I knew the, And he had one in jeans Yeah. That rides motorbikes. Yeah. And suited three or four. Yeah. And, uh, they, they're tough guys. You're like gangsters.

Robert Chelliah:

Yes, yes, yes. They're trained killers. Yes.

Murray Hunter:

Yes. So he was one of them.

Robert Chelliah:

Yes. He was one of them. So <laugh>, I, I mean, I left all the six months detail. It's in the file in Malaysia, but I don't know whether you want to, I think you can only write in a very,

Robert Chelliah:

Long. No, no.

Robert Chelliah:

Or something. Just, uh, the basic thing to raise questions. Why is he still in Villawood?

Murray Hunter:

There's a lot of unanswered questions still. Yes,

Robert Chelliah:

Yes. Yeah.

Murray Hunter:

Yeah. Well, that's good. I'll take this off. And hang on. We go in there and we.

Audio file translated to text by Kalani Scarrott

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