MACC probes PI Bala claims

By Neville Spykerman

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 — Anti-graft authorities will begin investigating private detective P. Balasubramaniam’s claims of being paid off in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case by people linked to Datuk Seri Najib Razak when they question an opposition politician tomorrow.

PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin said he will cooperate fully with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over his report that the private investigator was paid off to overturn his first statutory declaration that the prime minister knew the murdered Mongolian model.

“I told MACC that I would give them my full cooperation but in turn, I want all the allegations to be fully investigated,” said Shamsul, who added he was told by an MACC officer that they were starting their investigations by speaking to him.

Shamsul, who lodged an MACC report against architect Nazim Razak and a businessman called Deepak, was summoned to the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya today. Nazim is Najib’s younger brother.

Deepak was named repeatedly in Bala’s series of interviews and was painted as a key go-between in getting the latter to repudiate the claims which linked Najib to Altantuya. The former, along with his siblings, also appeared instrumental in arranging an alleged meeting between Bala and Nazim prior to the private investigator’s sudden disappearance.

“I told the officer that my schedule today was full and have arranged to meet them tomorrow at 9.30am,” said Shamsul.

Shamsul, who was accompanied by PAS Youth chief Nasarudin Hassan and DAP Youth chief Anthony Loke when the report was lodged yesterday, said he was informed by the MACC that they needed “further information”

“I don’t know if this means they will be taking a statement from me or if I am a witness in their investigations,” said Shamsul, who added he would be bringing along several lawyers with him tomorrow.

He said among the allegations are that Bala was offered RM5 million to retract his first statutory declaration and that his family was threatened if he did not do it.

Bala had further alleged that he was forced to sign a second pre-prepared statutory declaration which he claims to have never read and was paid RM750,000 after he disappeared. He also claims his passport was taken away and only returned to him after Najib was sworn-in as prime minister.

The former special branch policeman was hired by Abdul Razak Baginda, a close friend of the prime minister, who was acquitted of murdering Altantuya. Two elite police escorts, Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar, have been found guilty and have been sentenced to hang for the 2006 murder.

Najib, who continues to be linked with the grisly murder in which the model was shot and subsequently blown up with C4 high-explosives by the two police officers, has repeatedly denied any involvement in the sordid affair. “I have sworn in the name of God, of Allah, that I had nothing to do with her and I can’t go beyond that.”

Bala went “missing” after making the dramatic reversal on his first statutory declaration but has resurfaced in recent days through a series of interviews released online.

In those interviews, the private investigator has made sensational claims regarding efforts made to quash his original statutory declaration, which he now claims to be true.

The Malaysia Today website has also gone on to tie the personalities named by Bala to Najib, insinuating that the Deepak mentioned in the interviews was a close associate of the prime minister’s wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.