“I have never directed anyone to kill a Mongolian citizen named Altantuya Shaariibuu and I have never met nor do I know the deceased,” he told a congregation numbering about 500 at Masjid Jamek in Kampung Baru here after Friday prayers today.

Najib was accompanied by his wife Rosmah Mansor and daughter Nooryana Najwa.

He had made a similar oath 11 years ago at a mosque in Bukit Mertajam, Penang, denying claims that he had known Altantuya.

In the latest development, Azilah Hadri, a former Special Action Unit commando who recently filed for a review of his murder conviction, alleged in an accompanying statutory declaration that the order to kill Altantuya came from Najib, who was then deputy prime minister.

Najib rubbished the claim, calling it a “complete fabrication by a desperate person seeking to escape the gallows”.

Azilah and fellow convict Sirul Azhar Umar were part of the police’s Unit Tindakan Khas (UTK) when they were arrested for the murder of Altantuya.

Altantuya was murdered in October 2006 in the jungles of Puncak Alam near Shah Alam, Selangor. She was shot in the head before her body was blown up with explosives.

Her murder has been linked to the 2002 purchase of two French-built Scorpene-class submarines and alleged kickbacks to Razak Baginda, an aide to Najib when he was defence minister. Razak has denied this.

Najib had repeatedly rejected allegations of his involvement in the crime.