KUALA LUMPUR — Najib Razak has said allegation of him ordering the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu is Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) new conspiracy to fight and slander him.

The former prime minister said it is also a ploy to enable the government to detain him for the murder without bail.

He said the PH government is afraid that it will only be in power for a single term and is forced to produce this conspiracy to fight and slander him.

“I was also told that the new story from PH (regarding Altantuya’s murder) would open the way for the government to detain and imprison me without bail because there is no bail for murder cases.

“Only through this can PH silence me,” he said in his Facebook posting.

He was commenting on former police special action force (UTK) personnel Azilah Hadri’s allegation in a statutory declaration that Najib had ordered him to kill the Mongolian national in 2006.

Najib also said that his 1MDB and SRC International trials have not had the desired impact and PH’s propaganda was also lagging far behind.

“PH is finding it difficult to counter or rebut what I write on social media with facts and proof as well as my speeches at talks. 

“There are analysts who are of the opinion that the facts I produced were amongst the ‘sharpest weapons’ which contributed to PH’s crushing defeat in the Tg Piai by-election,” he added.

The Pekan Member of Parliament also said the murder occurred 13 years ago and the hearing took hundreds of days over several years at various courts until the Federal Court upheld the conviction and death sentences against Azilah and another former UTK member Sirul Azhar Umar.

He added that the police had also cleared him of any involvement in the matter.

He said it is surprising that a new narrative of Altantuya’s killing had suddenly surfaced.

Earlier on Monday, Najib also reportedly questioned the timing of Azilah allegations, saying it could be a plot by the PH administration to divert public attention from its shortcomings.

“This is a complete fabrication by a desperate person seeking to escape the gallows.

“Why did this information not come out earlier, and only now, more than a decade after her death and only after 19 months PH has been in power?” he said.

Azilah, who is on death row in the Kajang Prison, is seeking a review of the Federal Court’s decision and a re-trial.

He is claiming that Najib and the latter’s close associate Abdul Razak Baginda had instructed him to kill Altantuya.

Azilah alleged that both of them had described the Mongolian national as a foreign spy, who was a threat to national security. THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT