Murdered Mongolian related ordeal in note -witness

KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 (Reuters) A murdered Mongolian model purportedly left a note containing a death threat from a prominent Malaysian political analyst accused of abetting her killing, her cousin told a court today.

In another twist to the high-profile case, Altantuya Shaariibuu's cousin stunned the court when she produced the note, which she said she had kept since her cousin's death.

The victim was shot in the head twice and her body blown up with plastic explosives in a jungle just outside Kuala Lumpur last October, days after she came looking for the analyst, Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda.

''Mr Abdul Razak Baginda is (a) powerful person. He has money and has connections in (the) police and government,'' Altantuya said in the note, read out in court by her cousin, Burmaa Oyunchimeg. ''He tries to scare me, he tries to kill me.'' The note was later handed over to the court as evidence. In it, she described Razak, 46, and a close aide to Malaysia's deputy prime minister, as her boyfriend.

She had addressed the note to the Malaysian government, the police, the newspapers and the Mongolian embassy in Malaysia.

Oyunchimeg said she found the note in her cousin's handbag about a month after her death.

Razak, whom prosecutors said had a year-long affair with the 28-year-old woman, has been accused of involvement in the murder, in a high-profile case that has spawned intense speculation about possible government links.

Razak, who ran his own think-tank, has been charged with abetting the murder while two policemen were charged with the killing. All three have pleaded not guilty, but all face mandatory death by hanging if convicted.

The hearing is due to run until July or early August and the verdict is not due for months.

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