By Clara Chooi
KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 — The father of murdered Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu expressed interest today in meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak “father to father” to seek justice and closure for the brutal murder of his daughter in 2006.
Dr Setev Shaariibuu, who is in Malaysia for three days, said he had requested for a meeting with Najib before but the latter had allegedly avoided it.
“The last time I wanted to meet him but he ran away.
“The people of Malaysia support me and I want to go further to ensure this case is sped up,” he said.
Today, the bereaved father said he would not mind an opportunity to meet with Najib (picture), but not in the latter’s capacity as prime minister.
“As a father, he can understand my grief of losing a child better,” he told reporters in Parliament today, speaking in Mongolian, which was translated by his late daughter’s childhood friend Tsoggerel Och.
“I want to say to him — I am not meeting you as the PM. I am meeting you as a father, as a man. Father to father, you can understand what I feel,” he said.
Setev repeatedly denied rumours that he had been paid off by the Malaysian government in exchange for his silence, saying that his family was now in dire financial straits following his daughter’s death.
He claimed that the Mongolian government had written many diplomatic notes to Malaysia, requesting for investigations to be reopened to determine the true mastermind behind Altantuya’s murder.
“I am very surprised that the Malaysian government, in this past six years, has not responded to the notes.
“It cannot be that they have not received it,” Setev said.
Altantuya’s one-time lover Abdul Razak Baginda, who was said to be a close associate of Najib, was acquitted of a charge of abetting two Special Action Squad members — Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar — to commit the murder in 2006.
The murder was committed between 10pm on October 19, 2006, and 1am the following day at a clearing in Shah Alam’s Mukim Bukit Raja.
While Abdul Razak was acquitted, his co-accused Azilah and Sirul were found guilty and sentenced to death.
MORE TO COME