Pakatan Rakyat leaders condemned the brutal murders of cosmetics millionaire Sosilawati Lawiya and three of her associates, saying they were the most gruesome since the remains of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu were discovered in 2006.
PAS vice president Mahfuz Omar slammed the police for their slowness in linking the case to four other individuals who had gone missing last year.
“Only after intense media attention and after the victims had apparently been burnt to death and turned into ashes did our police connect the murders to another missing-persons case that took place last year and is still unsolved,” Mahfuz told Malaysia Chronicle.
Mahfuz urged newly-appointed Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar to beef up investigative and policing procedures. He advised the police to identify the ‘Datuk’ lawyer linked to the Sosilawati murder and reveal the motive behind the killings as soon as possible.
He also questioned why the police chose to announce the murders even before DNA testing confirmed the identities of the victims.
“Otherwise the people will think the murders are related to another high-profile politician just like the Altantuya case,” Mahfuz said.
Second most cruel only to Altantuya's killing
Altantuya was the 28-year translator who had allegedly acted as a go-between for Prime Minister Najib Razak and his close friend Razak Baginda in the Malaysian government’s purchase of two overly-priced Scorpene submarines. She was shot and her body bombed to piece to avoid identification in a jungle clearing in Selangor.
Initially, the Malaysian authorities denied her existence but after huge public outcry, two of his former bodyguards together with Razak Baginda were tried for her murder. Razak was acquitted but the bodyguards have been sentenced to hang. Nevertheless, speculation remains rife as to who were the real master-minds who ordered her death.
Sosilawat, the 47-year old founder of the popular Nouvelle Visages line of cosmetics, was reported missing on August 30 along with her driver, lawyer and a bank officer, after going to discuss a land deal in Banting, Selangor.
"I can say that Sosilawati Lawiya and three others are believed to have been murdered and their bodies burnt with ashes strewn in a river near the coast of the south-western part of the state," Criminal Investigations Department head Bakri Zinin told a press conference on Sunday.
"Police have detained eight suspects in the case and they provided information that led us to the location where the remains were found.We will have to do a DNA analysis to fully determine the identity of the remains but we are confident these are the remains of the four."
According to Bakri, one of the detainees was a 38-year-old lawyer who is believed to be the mastermind and who owned the land where the bodies were allegedly burnt. He said the lawyer, who was handling a land deal for Sosilawati, was also being investigated over the disappearance of four other people who had been reported missing in 2009.
Sosilawati's disappearance has been on the front pages of local newspapers for the past week as police carried out a nationwide search for her amid fears that she had been abducted and murdered.
Last week, a 34-year old schizophrenic man said to be related to Najib's wife, Rosmah Mansor, was acquitted of killing four family members and decapitating his father at their homes in Gemencheh earlier this year.
The Seremban High Court discharged Rashidi Ismail on the grounds of insanity and ordered him to be detained at the Kajang Prison at the pleasure of the Yang DiPertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan.
Rosmah, who has never denied or confirmed the relationship, was not in court but family members including Rashidi's 59-year old mother welcomed the judgment as an Aidilfitri gift.
