COSMETIC MILLIONAIRE AND THREE OTHERS BRUTALLY MURDERED AND BURNT

BANTING (Malaysia), Sept 13 (Bernama) -- In one of the most gruesome murder
cases that stunned the nation, cosmetics millionaire Sosilawati Lawiya and
three others were killed, their bodies burnt and ashes strewn into a river in
Tanjong Sepat near here, ending the two-weeks mysterious disappearance of the
four.

Tanjung Sepat is a town in Kuala Langat district in Selangor, Malaysia. It
is on the Straits of Malacca.


Adding to the drama in the midst of the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations,
a prominent 41-year-old lawyer in Banting, was arrested along with his
38-year-old brother, two women and four others, including farm workers.

Bukit Aman CID director Mohd Bakri Zinin said that the suspects
admitted they took the victims to the four-hectare plantation, bludgeoned them
to death and burned their bodies.

They later scattered the ashes at a river near Ladang Gadong, Tanjong
Sepat, Mohd Bakri told a news conference at the Kuala Langat district police
headquarters here Sunday.

Mohd Bakri said however that police would still need the forensic
confirmation to fully determine their identities.

He said the families of the victims had been informed and that police would
still need further confirmation from the forensic division and Chemistry
Department.

"What I can confirm now is that after the admission of the suspects, the
chances of them (missing four) still alive is extremely remote," he said.

Police had dispatched forensic and chemistry teams to comb the area, along
with pathologist and police dog units.

A forensic personnel said they smelt petrol at the area where the four were
believed to have been murdered and burned.

Besides the Nouvelle Visages (NV) cosmetics line founder, Sosilawati, 47,
also killed were her driver Kamaruddin Shamsudin, 44, CIMB Kampung Baru branch
bank officer Noorhisham Mohammad, 38, and her personal lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul
Karim, 32.

The ex-wife of rock singer Nash, and the trio were reported missing
since Aug 30 after going to Banting, apparently for a land purchase deal.

A week later, police found Sosilawati's BMW X5 at the Angsana Apartment in
USJ 1, Subang Jaya and a BMW 5 series belonging to Ahmad Kamil, at a housing
estate in front of a hotel in Subang Jaya.

Mohd Bakri said police were investigating the case under Section 302 of the
Penal Code, which carries the mandatory death sentence if convicted, and that
Kuala Lumpur police would handle the investigation because the victims were last
seen leaving Sosilawati's office in Kuala Lumpur.

On the motive of the incident, Mohd Bakri said it pointed towards
business
rivalry between the two lawyers and Sosilawati.

The lawyers, believed to have been suspended from practice for one year in
2007, were known among locals as land brokers and believed to be handling some
land matters worth millions for Sosilawati.

Police are believed to have obtained a seven-day remand order to facilitate
investigations into the case on all the suspects, aged between 19 and 41, who
were now being detained at the Bukit Jalil police station in Kuala Lumpur.

While the mystery surrounding Sosilawati's disappearance more of less
unravelled today, it opened up another mystery of what was happening at the farm
which is surrounded by concrete wall and oil palm trees, as well as goat and
cattle barns.

Mohd Bakri said in fact, the suspects had confessed that they had used
a similar modus operandi before and police were now investigating the
disappearance of four people in the area since last year.

According to local residents, the lawyer is a well-known local figure and
had assisted foreign workers who were cheated of their salaries by their
employers.

"He is also known as a land broker. But we are certainly shocked with his
arrest," said a resident.

A man who has plot of land near the farm of the accused said the latter's
farm was surrounded by walls and had an automatic door and strictly out of
bounds.

-- BERNAMA