ASP Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz, from the Sepang district police headquarters, was testifying at the trial of Indonesian national Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, both of whom are charged with murdering Jong Nam at klia2 on Feb 13 last year.
When asked by Gooi Soon Seng, the lawyer representing Siti Aisyah, on the identity of the Korean-American whom Jong Nam met on Feb 9 last year, Wan Azirul said he could not confirm the identity of the person.
His testimony appeared to irk Gooi, who said he seemed unable to remember details of the investigation and had a “total lapse of memory”.
Gooi then asked Azirul if he was “hiding” the contents of the investigations, after the latter said he did not know at which hotel the meeting between Jong Nam and the Korean-American had taken place.
“I am not hiding anything. I need time to verify certain details on Langkawi,” Azirul said, adding that it was not him but his colleague Inspector Husni Hussin who went to the island to investigate.
Gooi then asked if he agreed that a Japanese daily had reported in May last year that Jong Nam had met the Korean-American intelligence agent on that date.
Azirul said his investigations had shown that the meeting with the Korean-American did take place, but he did not have any details on the person.
The Asahi Shimbun reported that Jong Nam, who is the estranged half-brother of North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-Un, met a middle-aged Korean-American, suspected to be linked to an American intelligence agency, at a hotel in the resort island.
Azirul also said he sent a notebook to be analysed, adding that it had been used on Feb 9 when Jong Nam was in Langkawi.
He was referring to the same Asahi Shimbun report which said an analysis of Jong Nam’s notebook computer showed that a USB memory stick had been inserted in it, leading to suspicion that he might have “handed over a large volume of information he was not able to convey orally”.
The eldest son of former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il had arrived in Malaysia on Feb 6 and was at the airport to board a 9am flight to Macau when he was allegedly murdered.
During the trial’s opening statement on Oct 2 last year, the prosecution said it would prove that the two women approached Jong Nam at the airport’s departure hall and sprayed VX nerve agent on his eyes and face.
Prosecutors told the court the actions of Siti Aisyah and Doan showed that they intended to cause his death.
Malaysian laboratories
Earlier today, Justice Azmi Ariffin allowed Gooi’s request to recall chemist Raja Subramaniam to testify.
Gooi told the court that he wanted to ask few questions to Raja on whether the Malaysian laboratories used in the case were accredited by the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the global chemical weapons authority.
Deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin told the court Raja could come to testify at the hearing on Feb 8.
The chemist, an expert on VX nerve agent, had told the court in October that he found traces of VX on Doan’s “LOL” shirt which she wore during the alleged murder.
The hearing continues on Tuesday.
Traces of VX nerve agent found on Siti Aisyah, Doan’s clothes