PUTRAJAYA: The Prime Minister’s Office today made it clear that Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had not met former police commando Azilah Hadri, since the latter’s imprisonment for the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.
“It was widely reported today that Dr Mahathir had shook his head and smiled when asked if he had met Azilah.
“This question came at the tail-end of a press conference following the launch of Bandar Malaysia in Putrajaya yesterday.
“There were also attempts to allude that Dr Mahathir was the VVIP, who allegedly met Azilah who is on death row at Kajang Prison, in February this year,” it said in a statement.
Dr Mahathir, it added, had also dismissed allegations that the government was behind Azilah’s revelation of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s involvement in the murder of Altantuya, as stated in his (Azilah’s) recent statutory declaration.
“As this involves the legal process, the government will leave the matter to the relevant authorities to decide on the course of action.”
On Tuesday, the lawyer of Datuk Seri Najib Razak was quoted as saying that Azilah was allegedly brought outside prison to meet a VVIP in February this year; claiming that it was part of an attempt to politically assassinate Najib.
Azilah was reported to have dropped a bombshell recently when a statutory declaration by him claimed that he had killed Altantuya on the orders of Najib, who was the then deputy prime minister.