KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor never met Altantuya Shaariibuu, Abdul Razak Baginda said yesterday.

Speaking at length for the first time since his acquittal three weeks ago of abetting the murder of the Mongolian model and translator, Razak described persistent allegations of the deputy prime minister's involvement in the sensational crime as fitnah (slander).

"Those who have spread such lies can never produce any authentic evidence because there is none.

"The truth is the truth, and nothing can change the truth," he told some 40 media representatives at a packed press conference here.

Pressed on how he could be so sure that neither Najib nor Rosmah had anything to do with the victim, Razak said emphatically: "How do I know? I know, OK?"
He said his friendship with Najib grew after they first met professionally in the 1990s.

However, he said he never held any official position under Najib as has been repeatedly reported.

Razak, a noted political and defence analyst before his arrest following the gruesome killing of his lover two years ago, said Najib would make a good prime minister.

He railed against the bloggers and rumour-mongers who he said had twisted the facts to support claims that Najib knew Altantuya.

"Innocents have become the victim while the liars are running supreme."

He denied any connection between the model and the Scorpene submarine deal, often made by opposition groups to imply a sinister, high-level motive behind her murder.

The deal was signed in June 2002, more than two years before he first met Altantuya at the end of 2004, Razak said.

He questioned why so many people believed that a photograph of him with Altantuya and Najib was real, even without having seen it.

"The photo was clearly doctored. The girl in it was not even the deceased.

"If anyone believes in the photo, you've been taken for a ride."

When it was suggested that public opinion was still against him, Razak became combative and admonished the media's tendency to blow up "people power" when it was actually the work of a relative few.

"If I have money and I pay everyone RM10 and I get 100,000 people out in the streets to protest against the government, is that public opinion?

"That is not public opinion, that is manipulation. You talk about it as if it is a coherent, consistent consensus. I do not want to pander to so-called public opinion."

Razak said his statements would always be twisted out of context, for which he could not be held accountable.

Holding up a tape recorder, he said: "If it is reported that I am (now) holding a gun or some whisky, I cannot be responsible for that."

Razak scoffed at charges of political interference in his acquittal. "I was charged, went to prison for 22 months, spent 151 days in court. I went through all that, so how could there be any interference?"

On Oct 31, Razak was acquitted of abetting Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 32, and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 37, who were charged with murdering Altantuya in Bukit Raja between 10pm on Oct 19, 2006 and 1am the following day.

The two Special Action Squad policemen are scheduled to enter their defence on Jan 15.