In the latest installment of his insightful review of the shocking cover-up that surrounded the Altantuya murder case, lawyer Americk Sidhu has produced a list of at least seventeen ‘Persons Of Interest’ whom he determines are in a position to provide key information about the motives and methods behind this murder, but who were never called to give evidence.

Many were not even questioned by police investigators at the time it would appear.

The blog, entitled Decipherings.com has revealed step by step why Najib Razak and wife Rosmah have never been able to take action against those (including Sarawak Report) who have complained of a clear cover-up over their involvement in the events surrounding Altantuya’s death and questioned why?

That there was a mass suppression of evidence at the time is clear, as well as clear interference in the management of the case. Having let off key suspects, the prosecution simply did not call the witnesses who mattered most – and the newly installed defence made no protest over such negligence (the original defence lawyer said he was ‘pressured’ off the case).

Americh Sidhu now lists those main witnesses and the questions they are in a position to answer. In each case it is clear that the past failure to bring their evidence pointed to the perceived need to protect a ‘VVIP’, namely the then Defence Minister and Deputy PM, Najib Razak.

Military Personnel Arrived At DPM’s House Overnight

And there is another intriguing new piece of evidence raised in this latest narrative, which appears to shed possible light on the extraordinary use of C4 military explosive to blow up the victim in an apparent attempt to destroy any possible identification.

It has become clear that the two executioners who are already facing justice over this case, Najib’s bodyguards at the time, were members of a secret murder squad operating inside Special Branch.

One of the two, Azilah Hadri, boasted to Najib’s friend Razak Baginda (who was seeking to deter Altantuya from publicly blackmailing him outside his house about defence kickbacks involving himself and Najib and her alleged affairs with the two men) that he could dispense with the woman as he had killed up to ten people already.

Baginda told officers that he protested against such a solution to his problems, yet on the night she died he had nonetheless phoned this very hit squad leader to tell him Altantuya was back outside his house and asked his own bodyguard to “delay her until my man arrives” to deal with the situation.  Azilah and his junior Sirul duly arrived and ‘arrested’ Altantuya, driving her off to a quiet jungle area where they shot her dead.

However, there is a question about what happened next that has always puzzled the Malaysian public and rightly so. According to a confession signed at the time by Sirul after police interrogation, it was the two bodyguards who then pulled out some highly volatile C4 military explosive that they just happened to have available to them, and blew the body up.

How, run of the mill SB goons had received the training or access to use such sensitive military materials had always remained an unanswereed question. In his latest affidavit in which he finally claimed he was ordered by Najib personally to do the murder, Azilah glossed over the steps by which the body was blown up, merely indicating they carried out the orders involved.

Sirul, in the original police confession statement, did supply some detail about wrapping the body, tying the explosive to the abdomen and igniting it – all a highly dangerous procedure. There were unsubstantiated allegations that Azilah had been trained in this procedure in the army, which still does not explain his later access to such dangerous material.

Which is why Americk Sidhu’s new revelation that on the night of the murder two military officers were registered as entering the private residence of Najib and Rosmah at Langgat Duta is worth at least exploring as to why?

The lawyer has obtained a trove of relevant documents, including the entry log and car logs relating to the couple – documents that were also apparently lodged with the former prime minister, who passed them to his son in law Khairy Jamaluddin to take care of.

The gate log shows that those military visitors did not check out of the house again until the next morning, leaving a question as to what they were doing overnight?

Possibly, their actions were linked to the exit of Rosmah’s private car overnight from her separate official residence at Sri Satria, as again the log shows that the milometre clocked up 118 kms between dropping her home at 11.20 and setting out again early the next day.

In speculating where the car might or might not have gone the lawyer asks a question:

“Is it just a coincidence that google maps tells us the return journey from Sri Satria to Puncak Alam [the murder site] is 126 km?”

The possibility that military personnel were more likely to be able to dispose of a body using C4 than the Defence Minister’s own bodyguards is certainly also a matter that ought to be explored.

And as the lawyer makes clear there are so many questions and concerns that remain unanswered that it is high time all the key suspects and witnesses and those involved in blatant cover-up were hauled back into custody by police to do a proper investigation – instead of leaving it to observers like Americk Sidhu to pull together pieces from the incomplete evidence available.

They include those seventeen witnesses and Najib and his wife Rosmah.