Prisons Dept rubbishes claim Azilah left Kajang prison to meet a VVIP

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 18): Azilah Hadri, the convicted murderer of Mongolian model and translator Altantuya Shaariibuu, has not left the Kajang Prison since April 2015, according to the Prisons Department.

In a statement today, the department said the former police special action force (UTK) personnel never left the prison in Kajang throughout this year, and that the last time Azilah was taken out from the place was on April 15, 2015.

"The last time he (Azilah) was brought outside of Kajang Prison was on April 15, 2015, when he had to attend a hearing at the Sepang Magistrates Court," the Prisons Department said.

Since then, Azilah has not left the prison's premises, the department stressed.

The death row inmate, meanwhile, has been visited by his family members 34 times since a year ago, while his lawyer visited him 15 times.

"Consequently, any statements made by any parties alleging that Azilah Hadri had been brought out of Kajang Prison this year to meet with a VVIP is not true," the department said.

Azilah, who has been sentenced to death for his role in Altantuya's murder, has filed a statutory declaration (SD) claiming that it was former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who gave him the order to kill Altantuya.

The former chief inspector said Najib, who was deputy prime minister and defence minister when Altantuya was killed in 2006, had met him and ordered him to "shoot to kill", after telling him she was a "dangerous foreign spy".

The SD was filed to support his application — filed earlier this month — to seek a review of his conviction and death sentence that was passed down by the Federal Court in 2015. He is also seeking a retrial of the case.

Following the explosive allegation, Najib's chief legal counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah alleged Azilah had been brought out from the prison to meet with the VVIP in February.

In making the claim on Tuesday, Shafee also alleged that the meeting was a breach of prison protocol, and that the meeting was part of a political assassination plot against Najib, who is currently being tried in court for corruption, money laundering and abuse of power charges involving 1Malaysia Development Bhd and its former subsidiary, SRC International Sdn Bhd.

Shafee also said Najib will file an application to intervene in Azilah's review application to set aside his 2015 conviction for the murder of Altantuya.

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