SOSILAWATI: POLICE TO SUBMIT REPORT TO A-G NEXT WEEK

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 (Bernama) -- Police are expected to submit their
report on the murders of cosmetics queen Sosilawati Lawiya and three others to
the Attorney-General's Chambers next week, Malaysia's CID chief Mohd Bakri Zinin
said.

Saying police were confident that they had gathered "strong evidence" to
bring the suspects to justice, he said, police also believed they had solved the
case.

"We are confident that we have a strong case," he told reporters at the Dang
Wangi police headquarters here Friday.

He said the results of DNA tests on bone fragments found at the scene where
the four were reported to have been murdered were expected to be known in four
days.

"The bones were sent to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital Thursday," he said, adding
that the tests would establish if the bones were those of Sosilawati and the
other three victims.

Sosilawati, 47, CIMB Bank officer Noorhisham Mohammad, 38, driver Kamaruddin
Shamsudin, 44, and lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, were reported missing on
Aug 30 after leaving for Banting over a land deal.

Police confirmed that they were brutally murdered before their bodies were
burnt and the ashes thrown into rivers near Ladang Gadong, Tanjung Sepat, near
Banting in Selangor state.

Mohd Bakri said police ceased operations to gather evidence at the Ladang
Gadong farm and Panchau River from today but would still be guarding the place
and that the area was still off limit to the public.

"We will resume operations if there is a necessity to do so," he said,
adding that police had recovered a knife and a cricket bat believed to be the
weapons used in the murders.

Mohd Bakri said two special teams had been set up to investigate the murders
as well as three previous missing person reports and the murder of a women.


He said that the investigations into the murders of Sosilawati and her three
friends were headed by Kuala Lumpur CID chief Ku Chin Wah while the team
investigating into the three missing persons and the woman's murder was headed
by deputy CID chief (intelligence and operation) Hadi Ho Abdullah.

"We have identified the suspects in the four cases. The three individuals
had gone missing after meeting the main suspect while the woman was stabbed to
death in front of her house last year.

"We are not ruling out the possibility that the three missing persons have
been murdered," he said.

He also reiterated his reminder to the media not to go overboard in
reporting the case by publishing reports based on speculation or unverified
information.

Mohd Bakri said that there were too many reports quoting sources which
contradicted one another which, he said, could cause the reporters or editors to
be called in to explain their reports when the case was up for trial in court.

"Claims like the victims' throats were slit, that 17 people might have been
murdered, that the victims were lured with cheque, and that rivers were filled
with hundreds of bone fragments and various other reports are based on
speculations and not a reflection of the actual incident.

"Don't speculate because it will affect police investigations. The thing is,
based on the confession by the suspects, Sosilawati and her three friends had
been tied, beaten and stabbed to death before their bodies were burnt and ashes
thrown into the river," he said.

He also said that only eight suspects were arrested so far, including two
lawyers.

Mohd Bakri also revealed that workers for the lawyer were said to be
obsessed with their employer and that some had been working with the suspect for
15 years.

"The main suspect has never been conferred with a Datuk title and his assets
have been frozen. The suspect had not asked for any ransom from the victims'
families," he said.

Police had also taken statements from the victims' family members as well as
samples for DNA tests, he added.
-- BERNAMA