The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is keeping everyone guessing on whether or not it will take up the offer to interview private investigator P Balasubramaniam in London next month.MACC investigation director Mustafar Ali said they will announce their decision in due time, without elaborating any further.“I try to focus on my press conference today, on givers (of bribes). I believe if I were to mention PI Bala, it's going to be highlighted tomorrow,
” he said after announcing the 2010 figures on arrests made as at May 31 at Putrajaya.“After we decide, we will inform. That's our promise,” he added.
Last month, Balasubramaniam's lawyers emailed an invitation to the MACC to send officers over to London to interview the private investigator in connection with their probe on the sensational murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu.Balasubramaniam had made a startling revelation in his statutory declaration pertaining to the murder of Altantuya only to retract it a day later in 2008.
The declaration had stated that the then deputy prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, was the one who introduced Altantuya to political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda.Razak was charged with abetment to murder but was later freed by the court.
The private investigator has also alleged Najib's younger brother Nazim's involvement in his retraction of the statutory declaration which is the subject of this MACC investigation.Just this morning, Americk Sidhu, one of Balasubramaniam's three legal counsel, sent an email reminder to MACC investigating officer Abdul Rahman Bachok that the invitation still stands, and also asked for the MACC's confirmation in accepting the offer.
Room booked
Americk (right) noted that they have already booked a conference room at the Holiday Villas Hotel in Leinster Gardens, Bayswater for July 5 to 6 for the interview.“I would be most obliged if you could respond to this email promptly as there are rumours abounding that the MACC will refuse to attend our arranged interview.“I however, do not believe for one moment that your department will turn down this opportunity to interview my client bearing in mind the contents of the press statements made by some of the senior officers in your department concerning the interest in interviewing my client 'anytime and anywhere, and of course the gravity of the allegations made against some of our leaders and their immediate families,” Americk said in his email.He added that over the course of the interview, he, along with counsel Manjeet Singh Dhillon and witnessing counsel Amarjit Singh Sidhu, will be present with Balasubramaniam.Balasubramaniam made headline news in July 2008 after he issued a statutory declaration linking Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor to Altantuya's gruesome killing.Hardly a day later, he issued a second statutory declaration to say that he was forced to sign the first declaration under duress and that he wanted to retract its contents.It was more than a year before the elusive private investigator scorched the headlines again in November 2009, when he claimed he had to issue the second statutory declaration after threats were made against his family.
It was also around this time that his lawyers first made the offer to arrange an interview with MACC officers to take Bala's statement as part of their investigation into claims of corruption related to the Mongolian's murder.Political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, Altantuya's former lover and one of three accused in her murder, was acquitted of the charges in October 2008 while police officers chief inspector Azilah Hadri and corporal Sirul Azhar Umar were sentenced to death by the High Court in April last year.
Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/133617
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