Altantuya Murder Case 17/07/07

Defence Disputes CCTV Recording In Altantuya Murder Case

SHAH ALAM, July 17 (Bernama) -- The defence in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial in the High Court here today questioned the authenticity of the Hotel Malaya closed-circuit television (CCTV) recording of the images of two men, believed to be the accused.
Hasnal Redzua Merican, counsel for the second accused, Cpl Sirul Azhar Umar, said it was bizarre that the video tape with the recording also contained images captured on Nov 11 last year, when the 17th prosecution witness, Jimmy Loo Mow Chan, had testified earlier that he handed over the video tape to a police officer the day before, that is Nov 10 2006.
However, in the afternoon session, Loo, 50, Hotel Malaya's operations manager, explained under re-examination by deputy public prosecutor Manoj Kurup that the discrepancy was due to a technical fault.
Manoj: You notice that at the beginning of the tape it is printed 11-11-06 at time 17:04. Can you explain why that recording is on the tape if it had been handed to the police on the Nov 10 2006?
Loo: My opinion it that it could be a technical fault as to the timer.
Manoj: Timer or date?
Loo: As far as I know, it is the same.
Earlier, Loo admitted that he did not have the technical expertise to explain why there was a discrepancy in the CCTV recording.
Sirul Azhar, 35, and the other accused, Chief Insp Azilah Hadri, 30, are charged with murdering Altantuya, 28, at a location between Lots 12843 and 16735, Mukim Bukit Raja, between 10pm on Oct 19 last year and 1am the following day.
Political analyst Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda, 47, is accused of abetting them.
Yesterday, Loo testified that there was a discrepancy in the time displayed on some of the images as the audio visual equipment used to play the tape in court was not compatible.
However, today he agreed that he was guessing when he said that.
Loo also said that on Nov 10 he handed three videotapes containing the footages and 20 sheets of guest folios to one Sgt Amran but the tapes were taken without the equipment.
"From Nov 10 2006, when the tapes were handed over to the police, until the time they came back to my office sometime in May 2007, the three tapes had all along been in the custody of the police," he said.
Prior to that, he had never viewed the tapes using another system, he said, adding that because the CCTV system was an important feature in the hotel, it was kept running for 24 hours.

Azilah, Sirul Agreed To Bring Police To Crime Scene, Court Told

SHAH ALAM, July 17 (Bernama) -- C/Insp Azilah Hadri and Koperal Sirul Azhar Umar agreed to bring and show to the police the place where Mongolian part-time model Altantuya Shaariibuu was killed in Puncak Alam, Shah Alam on Nov 6 last year, the High Court here was told today.
Supt Zainol Samah, 42, a special investigations officer attached to the Kuala Lumpur Police, said he was informed by ASP Tonny Lunggan on Nov 5 that the two accused had "confessed".
Supt Zainol, the prosecution's 19th witness on Day 20 of the Altantuya murder trial, said he then contacted Supt Amidon Adnan of the forensics department to arrange a team to be ready at the UITM building in Shah Alam.
He said he then left his office and followed Tony's car to Shah Alam in his.
Zainol told the court that in Tony's car were Sirul Azhar, DSP Gan Tack Guan and other police officers, names of whom he could not remember.
During examination-in-chief by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah, Zainol said he left from the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters at 5.30 pm on Nov 5, 2006.