ASP Zulkarnain Samsudin. Discrepancies in his reports were questioned in court. |
Questions were raised in the High Court today on two different reports put up on the same day by an investigating officer over the disclosure by a police corporal of jewellery belonging to the murdered Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu.
It was highlighted in court that discrepancies in the reports made by ASP Zulkarnain Samsudin included the spelling of his name and his date of birth, though the officer admitted that he had checked the reports before signing them.
Zulkarnain told the court that he had filed the report on 7 November 2006 at the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters at 2.30 pm, about 20 minutes after the disclosure by the corporal, Sirul Azhar Umar, one of the accused in the trial.
But he explained that after making a second check on the same day, he had asked the information technology unit in Bukit Aman to amend several words.
Under cross-examination by counsel Kamarul Hisham Kamarudin, who represented Sirul Azhar, he said:
"On Nov 7 2006, after I had returned from conducting an inspection at Sirul Azhar's house, I checked the police report I had made earlier. I found a mistake, whereby I had not indicated the name of the person I had investigated.
"Therefore, at 6.45 pm, I contacted the IT unit of Bukit Aman to make the correction.
"I spoke to a Chinese personnel whose name and number I do not remember.
"That person advised me to make an application to make the amendment for their record."
Sirul Azhar, 36, and Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 31, of the Special Action Force (UTK), are accused of murdering Altantuya, then 28, at a location between Lot 12843 and Lot 16735 in the Mukim of Bukit Raja near Shah Alam between 10 pm on Oct 19 and 1 am on Oct 20 last year.
Political analyst Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda, 47, is charged with abetting them.
According to Zulkarnain, he was required to write an application report on the changes made via the police report system (PRS).
He said that he had requested to amend the name to Corporal 125591 Sirul Azhar bin Hj Umar and amend two lines at the end.
But Kamarul Hisham rebuked that there was a major mistake in his date of birth in the amended report while it was correct in the original report.
The exchange between Zulkarnain and Kamarul Hisham is as follows:
Kamarul Hisham: What was your rank on Nov 7 2006?
Zulkarnain: ASP.
Kamarul Hisham: The rank stated in the original and amended reports is Chief Inspector Zulkarnain. In the space for receiver of report is written chief inspector. In the space for complainant on the original report, is your name spelt correctly?
Zulkarnain: No. It should have been spelt without an "H" and with only one "D" (the name had been spelt Zulkarnain Shamsuddin instead of Zulkarnain Samsudin).
Kamarul Hisham: Do you agree that there is a difference in the name of the complainant in the original and amended reports?
Zulkarnain: I agree.
Kamarul Hisham: In the amended report, your date of birth is Oct 5 2073, right?
Zulkarnain: That's not correct. The correct date is Oct 5 1973 as in the original report.
Another discrepancy was found in the reference to mobile telephone, with "bimbit" (Malay for "mobile") in the original report and "hp" (handphone) in the amended one.
There was also no signature in the original report.
Zulkarnain pointed out that after he made the amendments via the PRS, the corrections in the reports were made by the IT personnel of Bukit Aman.
Zulkarnain added that the original report was not typed by him but another investigating officer, Chief Inspector Koh Fei Chew.
He said, "I signed it. It was Chief Inspector Koh who typed it but I checked the contents."
However, Zulkarnain said that he could not recall when he signed the report.
"When I made the police report at the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters, which is online with the designated district, in this case the Tun HS Lee police station, that station will print a copy and enter it into the reports book.
"I am not sure whether the printed copy was the original report or the amended one.
"There are two ways an investigating officer can obtain the original copy.
"One way is for the investigating officer to go to the police station and obtain a copy of the report from the reports book.
"The copy will not be signed if it is the police who had made the report.
"The second way is for the police officer to print out the report via his or her own computer by using a password at any police station.
"I sign the copy that I print on my own."
Zulkarnain had described the layout of the floor of the UTK office where Azilah worked earlier on in court. The hearing, before Judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yassin, continues on Wednesday.
