Witness protection programs are to protect witnesses from those who do not want the witness to testify. From those who stand to lose the most if that witness ‘blows the whistle’. So, in order to shield witnesses, either before or after they have testified in court, witnesses are sometimes relocated. Sometimes they are given a whole new identity. Facial makeover, name change, job resume rehashed. These are the lengths the law enforcement agencies will go to protect the sources of their information or those whose testimony will put crooks away.
And the ones who stand to lose the most if the whistleblower ‘blows’ will go to great lengths to try and make sure the witness never gets to testify in court.
They will kill if they have to. They will kidnap family members of the whistleblower and threaten those family members with harm if they have to. Pay big money, bribe law enforcement agencies, force a retraction of previous statements if they have to. They will do anything and everything to make that whistleblower disappear.
Because they have so much to lose.
Take PI Balasubramaniam and his two statutory declarations.
In the first SD, Bala swore that Razak Baginda had informed him that:
Altantuya had been introduced to Razak Baginda by Najib.
Najib had informed Razak Baginda that he had a sexual relationship with Altantuya and that this might include anal sexy.
Najib wanted Razak Baginda to look after Altantuya as he did not want her to harass him since he was now the deputy prime minister.
Najib, Razak Baginda and Altantuya had all been together at a dinner in Paris.
Altantuya wanted money from Razak Baginda as she felt she was entitled to a US$500,000 commission on a submarine deal she assisted with in Paris.
Bala also swore in his first SD that Altantuya had told him that she had met Razak Baginda in Singapore with Najib and that she had also met Abdul Razak Baginda and Najib Razak at a dinner in Paris.
Bala also swore that on the day Razak Baginda was arrested, Bala was with him at his lawyers office at 6.30am. Bala swore that Razak Baginda informed both him and the lawyer that Razak Baginda had sent Najib an SMS the evening before as he refused to believe he was to be arrested, but had not received a response. A little later, at about 7.30am, Abdul Razak Baginda received an SMS from Najib and showed this message to both Bala and his lawyer. The message read : “ I am seeing IGP at 11am today … matter will be solved … be cool”.
The next day after having gone public with the contents of his first SD, Bala came out with SD2 in which he now says ‘I wish to retract the entire contents of my statutory declaration dated July 1, 2008. I was compelled to affirm the said statutory declaration dated July 1, 2008 under duress’.
And Bala and family are now nowhere to be seen. Vanished into thin air! Disappeared!
And Najib is now free to say that Bala has no credibility because one day he says Najib had sex with Altantuya and the next day he says no. One day he says Najib met Altantuya in Singapore and Paris and the next day he says no. One day he says Najib was trying to interfere with the case by speaking to the IGP and the next day he says no. Cannot believe someone who says one thing one day and something else the next day.
That cannot be treated as the same as Najib saying one day that he never met Saiful and the next day saying yes he met Saiful but only to discuss his future studies. After all, Najib never swore any SD on both occasions, so that is not the same as this Bala swearing two SDs both saying absolutely contradictory things.
So one way to neutralize a whistleblower is to get him to contradict himself and then disappear so that he then cannot contradict his second statement by making a third SD to reaffirm the first SD, leaving the one with the most to lose to now say ‘no credibility’.
What if you can’t get to the whistleblower?
Thagarajoo a/l Thangavelu swore a SD on 22nd August, 2008 before commissioner of oaths Mohan A.S. Maniam. Thagarajoo swears that Kenneth Eswaran introduced Guruji to Najib and Rosmah. That Thaga himself has driven Guruji to Najib’s house to perform Hindu rituals there. That these rituals would be performed every month in which Najib and Rosmah would be bathe in milk. After the prayers, things used in the ritual would be buried in the compound of Najib’s house to ward off evil.
Until today, there has been no second SD by Thaga to say that the contents of the first are untrue. That he was coerced to make the first SD. That he retracts the contents of the first SD. And Thaga has not disappeared. He has not vanished into thin air. Disappeared!
Why? Najib don’t know where he is. Cannot get him to do a second SD denying the first. Cannot get him to disappear.
And since there is no second SD, Najib cannot say that Thaga has no credibility. That Thaga cannot be believed. Cannot be trusted.
Instead, a group of Najib’s supporters have come out and said that Najib has denied being involved in Hindu rituals. Najib said if you don’t believe him, ask Samy Vellu.
Wah, now swearing in the name of Samy.
Guruji not enough, now Gurusamy also?
But Najib’s office has come out to distance Najib from the statement by his supporters.
And still no denial of the contents of Thaga’s SD?
Deny the SD and we produce the proof.
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The proceedings today were adjourned after lead defence counsel M Manogaran contended that there is an "element of bias" in the charge sheet and consent form which were signed by AG Abdul Gani Patail.
Deputy Public Persecutor (DPP) Raja Rozela Raja Toran (right) said "whether the consent form is valid or not or whether there it is bias or not should have been addressed on Dec 11, 2002".
Uthayakumar (left) has claimed trial to the sedition charge, based on a letter he had posted on a website. Dated Nov 15, 2007, it was sent from Hindraf’s main office in Seremban.
"Hindraf urges component parties within BN to come out of their cocoon and speak the truth on the real situation facing the Indians and the impact of the Umno repression on Hindraf which is causing great uneasiness amongst the people," Waythamoorthy (in coat) said in a statement today.