Anwar hits back with allegations against Najib - Malaysia
Private eye alleges link between DPM and dead model; Najib denies it
By S JAYASANKARAN
IN KUALA LUMPUR
EXPLOSIVE revelations emerged yesterday in Kuala Lumpur after a private investigator hired by a man charged over the bloody murder of a Mongolian model drew links between the accused man, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and the murder victim.
Mr Najib: Dismissing allegations against him as lies, he says he had ‘never, ever met’ the murdered model
The allegations surfaced at a news conference called by de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who himself faces possible charges of sodomy alleged by one of his aides. Mr Najib later denied the allegations, calling them a ploy on Mr Anwar’s part.
Abdul Razak Baginda, a close aide of Mr Najib, and two policemen from the elite Special Action Squad are being tried for the October 2006 slaying of Altantuya Shaariibuu, who apparently had an affair with Abdul Razak. She was shot in the head and her body was then blown up with plastic explosives in a clearing near Shah Alam, outside Kuala Lumpur.
The case, which has been going on for a year, is heading for some sort of conclusion as the prosecution recently rested its case and the judge is set to rule on whether the three accused should enter their defence. But the statutory declaration by P Balasubramaniam, a policeman-turned private detective, implies that evidence he gave voluntarily has been suppressed by police - and prosecutors - to protect Mr Najib, who has repeatedly denied even meeting Ms Altantuya.
‘It would appear that the investigation and proceedings in court seem to be following a pre-arranged script for a pre-arranged outcome,’ Mr Anwar told reporters.
According to the declaration, Mr Balasubramaniam said he was hired by Abdul Razak to protect him from Ms Altantuya, who was allegedly harassing him for unpaid debts. The Mongolian allegedly told the private detective Abdul Razak owed her US$500,000 for ‘assisting’ him on a submarine deal in Paris.
In the declaration, the private detective implies that Abdul Razak was originally evasive when questioned, but finally admitted that he had been introduced to the Mongolian by Mr Najib at a diamond exhibition in Singapore. The nature of the relationship between Mr Najib and the model - according to what Abdul Razak told the private detective - is also detailed in the declaration, but Mr Anwar yesterday dismissed it as ‘their business’.
A month after the Mongolian disappeared, the private detective said he was arrested on suspicion of murder, during which he told his questioners everything that transpired between him and Abdul Razak, but ‘those details were omitted from the final statement’.
On the day Abdul Razak was arrested, according to the declaration, he showed Mr Balasubramaniam and Abdul Razak’s lawyer a mobile phone text from Mr Najib that said: ‘I am seeing IGP (inspector-general of police) at 11am today . . . matter will be solved . . . be cool.’
The private detective said he was prepared to answer all such questions during the trial but that no one - from either side - asked. He told reporters he was coming forward now as the prosecution had closed its case without mentioning this evidence and that others may have been involved in the matter.
Mr Anwar noted that both the defence and the prosecution teams were changed just before the trial, the latter at the last minute.
At a news conference at Parliament House late yesterday, Mr Najib dismissed the allegations as ‘lies’ reiterating that he had ‘never, ever met’ Ms Altantuya. He also said the episode was ‘a ploy’ by Mr Anwar to divert attention away from his own problems.
Even so, Mr Balasubramaniam’s allegations will have to be investigated because they are in a sworn statement, implying that if he is lying he could face perjury charges.
Last night, in a surprise revelation to the sodomy allegations against Mr Anwar, Mr Najib admitted meeting the young man who accused Mr Anwar before he filed the police report.
‘He came to see me, complaining that he was sodomised by Mr Anwar Ibrahim. I wasn’t even sure if it was true or not,’ Mr Najib said. ‘I suppose he needed help, and he knew one of my officers. That’s all. He looked like he was in fear.’
Source : Business Times - 04 July 2008
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