KUALA LUMPUR: Prominent lawyer Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah says that allegations that incarcerated former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had an influence in the murder of Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaaribu in 2006 could be politically motivated.
Shafee, who is also Najib's lawyer, claims that the move was carried out to charge the former prime minister with murder and throw him in jail as Barisan Nasional (BN) was doing well at the time.
He also said while the case occured in 2006, Najib was accused of directing former police officers Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar for the first time in 2018 after BN lost the 14th General Election.
"It is also very important to note that the trial for SRC International Sdn Bhd was going on at the time and BN was doing rather well, with Najib involved in a lot of (political) campaigning.
He said it was shocking to note that the Attorney-General (AG) sent a public prosecutor to the detention centre where Sirul was placed to get a statement recorded.
"The move is to get Najib charged with murder because he will be thrown into jail straight away. Hence, there will be no more campaigning for BN and I feel that this was the overriding moving force behind it," he said.
Shafee said this during the Keluar Sekejap podcast hosted by former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril Hamdan, today.
At the same time, he added that it was also illogical to claim Najib as the 'mastermind' behind the murder as the latter had never met Altantuya.
He also said any instructions, at most, would be from Najib's former aide, Abdul Razak Baginda, who was reported to have a romantic relationship with Altantuya.
Shafee, however, said that there was also no evidence against Abdul Razak as the mastermind who ordered both of the policemen to murder Altantuya during the case trial.
"If there were orders, it goes to the level of Abdul Razak at most. There is a complete disjoint between Najib and Abdul Razak, so why are people looking at Najib?
He added that the element of superior orders did not arise and does not work in this case, as it was a 'total' crime.
"So, this is two pure criminals who acted in the most heinous way to kill an undefended woman, probably even pregnant and there is no defence to it," he said.
Previously, Najib denied any allegations of seeking to influence or silence Sirul, who claimed that he was made a scapegoat in the murder of Altantuya.
In a statement issued by his legal team, Shafee and Co, Najib also urged Sirul to be brave in disclosing any information he might have regarding the purported mastermind, in the interest of uncovering the truth, transparency and justice.
This comes after Sirul, in an interview with Al-Jazeera had claimed that he was a circumstantial victim and was made a scapegoat.