Altantuya, Teoh Beng Hock, 1MDB discussed in Parliament

KUALA LUMPUR: Did the previous government cover up high profile cases which included the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder and the shocking death of DAP member Teoh Beng Hock as well as the 1MDB scandal?
These were the questions asked today at the lower House of Parliament by Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh.
He claimed that there had been police inaction in all of these cases which smells of a cover up by the previous government under the leadership of former Prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.
"The issue of 1MDB, we were not allowed to raise it during the last parliamentary sitting. But the international media had raised the issue," he said during a debate on the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat today.
"The US Attorney-General had described the 1MDB issue as kleptocracy at its worst. These are the words used," he added.
"But Pekan (former prime minister Najib Razak) has never answered them. Will he stand here and reply to the Economist magazine and Wall Street Journal ...will he do that?" he asked.
He also raised the question if there was a cover up to the Altantuya murder in 2006.
Ramkarpal who is the lawyer for the case said that the authorities are trying to protect somebody.
"Who are they (authorities) trying to protect?" he asked.
"There is definite foul play in both the cases (Teoh Beng Hock and Altantuya) ... so why is there a cover up?"
He said that in every murder case, there is a mastermind, whether or not that mastermind had physically carried out the murder or not, he can be charged for intention to murder.
"This is normal. Why then in the Altantuya case did the prosecution not do so?" he asked.
He also asked why Sirul Azhar Umar was not brought back by the previous government.
"I have asked for three years to bring back Sirul but the BN government did not do it to cover up who is really the mastermind of the Altantuya murder," he said.
"Are they protecting their own?" he asked.
In 2009, Sirul and accomplice Azilah Hadri were convicted of murdering Altantuya and were sentenced to death.
The Court of Appeal overturned their sentences in 2013 but upon the prosecution's appeal, they were upheld by the Federal Court.
Sirul fled to Australia where he was detained by the Australian Immigration after Interpol issued a red notice on him.
He has been at the detention centre since 2015.
Since Pakatan Harapan have taken power from Barisan Nasional Sirul has written a personal letter to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad in which he stressed his willingness to tell the truth about what happened.