Malaysian tycoon’s killer also killed Indian, suspect cops

KUALA LUMPUR - Police in Malaysia are investigating whether two brothers suspected to be behind the murders of a woman tycoon and three others had earlier killed an Indian national.

Police did not identify the Indian national but said he had been “missing” and that he had opened a restaurant in partnership with two lawyer brothers who are the main accused in the murder of businesswoman Sosilawati Lawiya.

Sosilawati, 47, who founded the Nouvelles Visages cosmetic company, was reported missing Aug 30. Police suspect the murder took place as a property deal that she was negotiating Aug 28 fell through.

The lawyer brothers are among the eight suspects detained and being investigated.

Federal Criminal Investigation Department director Bakri Zinin said at least four of the suspects confessed to the murders, New Straits Times reported Monday.

He also revealed that the lawyer brothers have earlier been involved in similar cases in which their clients had “gone missing”.

Bakri said police were investigating four similar disappearances linked to the brothers in the past one year.

“One of the four earlier victims was an Indian national reported missing several months ago,” Bakri said.

“The suspects have indicated that the same modus operandi had been used in the other cases over the last one year,” he said.

Police are also probing the whereabouts of the RM four million ($1.2 million) which Sosilawati was said to have been carrying, The Star newspaper said on its website.

The businesswoman and her three male companions were allegedly held at a poultry farm, beaten and murdered and their remains burnt to ashes.

The three other victims were Sosilawati’s lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, banker Noorhisham Mohammad, 38, and driver Kamarudin Shansudin, 44.