(From left) Ms Uuriintuya Gal-Ocrhir, Ms Namiraa Gerelmaa, Ms Burmaa Oyunchimeg and Mr Shaariibuu Setev, demonstrate their support for
Ms Altunaya outside the court.
|
They went everywhere in threes, always surrounded by Malaysian police who had no qualms pushing people away from them, and always decked out in hats and
over-sized sunglasses.
In her court testimony, Ms Burmaa Oyunchimeg, cousin of Altantuya, said she owned a salon in Mongolia and had graduated with a degree in marketing and
management from the University of Mongolia.
She said she was studying English in Hong Kong at the time when Ms Altantuya was having an affair with Abdul Razak, a 47-year-old prominent political
analyst in Malaysia.
Ms Burmaa said she was very close to Ms Altantuya, who confided in her about her relationship with Abdul Razak.
She said she hung out a lot with her late cousin in Mongolia, and after she moved to Hong Kong, Ms Altantuya would visit her regularly.
It was in Hong Kong where Ms Burmaa was first introduced by Ms Altantuya to Abdul Razak at the end of 2004. Subsequently, she flew from Hong Kong to meet
them in Shanghai and Singapore a few months later.
She said Abdul Razak often called her mobile phone from Malaysia or abroad to speak to Ms Altantuya if she was in Hong Kong.
Ms Burmaa also testified that sometime last year, he sent her a text message asking her to tell Ms Altantuya that he did not want to see her again.
Her cousin brushed it off as a small misunderstanding. Ms Altantuya flew to Malaysia in August last year to sort it out but did not meet Abdul Razak. She
went again in October, and was killed that month.
Ms Namiraa Gerelmaa, a housewife who just had a baby, she said her mother had paid for her trip to Malaysia to find out about studying English.
She said she was close to Ms Altantuya, but appeared to know little about her relationship with Abdul Razak.
On the night that Ms Altantuya disappeared, she said her cousin went to Abdul Razak’s house convinced that he would see her.
Ms Uuriintuya Gal-Orchir, who was four months pregnant during the October visit also claimed not to know much.
She said she knew Ms Altantuya through her sister, who was the babysitter for the late interpreter’s two children.
She said she went to Malaysia on holiday as she had never been out of Mongolia before and was mostly interested in sight-seeing and shopping.
