WHO IS THE 3RD PARTY BEHIND THE ALTANTUYA TRIALS?

this article was forwarded from Susan Loone blog.
WHO IS THE 3RD PARTY BEHIND THE ALTANTUYA TRIALS?
REMEMBER Zulkifli Noordin (photo Malaysiakini) ? He was the lawyer who discharged himself from defending 1st accused in the Altantuya trials - chief inspector Azilah Hadri on June 4, alledging 3rd party inteference in the case. He said: “There were serious attempts by third parties to interfere with the defence that I proposed”.
In an exclusive interview with SUARA KEADILAN 3-17 JULY EDITION (PKR’s party organ) recently, Zulkifli said that “The Altantuya case will be like Anwar Ibrahim’s. Many “mysterious’ things that benefit the third parties will be happening”. He also spoke about Azilah’s character and why he (Zulkifli) had to dislodge himself from Malaysia’s trial of the century. In not so many words, he “revealed” who the 3rd party was.
Zulkifli became Azilah’s lawyer when the latter’s cousin, who was a chambering student, approached him to represent Azilah. The first time Zulkifli saw Azilah, he thought the man looked familiar. Later, he was told that Azilah was the officer who accompanied Anwar in court when the latter was released.
Zulkifli spoke about Azilah’s character. He described Azilah as “a man who found it difficult to trust others”. He looked “depressed and fearful”. Zulkifli had to meet him several times to ensure him that he (Zulkifli) was really a lawyer.
“He felt that he had been betrayed. This is a big case. A murder case. When a person is accused of being a murderer and feels that he has been betrayed, it would be difficult for the individual to trust anyone else because in his mind he feels that everyone wants to betray him,” said Zulkifli, who was educated in Wellington, New Zealand.
He admitted that Azilah had revealed a lot of things to him, though he was cautious in the beginning, but eventually, he opened up. On his background, he said Azilah joined the UTK (special action forces) in 1997, and worked in the security section for the DPM. He became the office-in-charge of bodyguards (OCBG) for the DPM. A day before (Oct 18) Altantuya was killed, Azilah was on duty (guarding the DPM) in Pekan, and the day she was killed, he was on duty in Kuala Lumpur.
Zulkifli said several UTK members supported him and offered to ‘protect’ him as they wanted him to expose the case, to salvage the good name of the UTK.
“Yes, because they know that the UTK will only act under orders. Azilah is a member of the UTK, he will not issue an order to his subordinate if he did not receive orders from the higher ups”.
“And for the public, if this case does not involve those who have political interest, UTK will not be used. The use of C4 also raised many questions among the public. Everyone knows that C4 are only used by the army and not the UTK. Only certain people can approve the usage of this bom”.
So, why did Zulkifli withdrew from defending Azilah?
He said he did so because he was against Azilah’s decision to alter his defense strategy at the eleventh hour. The latter’s strategy included ‘protecting’ the mysterious third party. However, he declined to reveal who the third party was.
“As his lawyer, I had to respect his wishes. Therefore, I made a decision to withdraw from the case as it was against my principle and conscience”.
The rest of the interview included his opinion on court procedures, where several changes were made to the prosecution team, the judge as well as location of the hearing. He attributed the discrepencies to the fact that the Attorney General had powers beyond the judge, as it is under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister’s department.
“We should emulate other countries where the AG’s department directly reports to Parliament”.