Saturday July 5, 2008

Lawyer: Second SD was probably made under duress

By SHAHANAAZ HABIB

KUALA LUMPUR: Americk Singh Sidhu, the lawyer who had prepared the first statutory declaration for private investigator P. Balasubramaniam, is convinced his client was intimidated to retract his declaration.

He believed the private eye had been coerced “by either threats or promises as I can think of no other reason”.

Balasubramaniam's first statutory declaration which he made public on Thursday in a press conference with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim alleged that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had had a sexual relationship with Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Balasubramaniam had said the police had omitted vital information about Najib's relationship with the murdered Mongolian translator.

Speaking at a press conference at the PKR headquarters yesterday, Americk Singh said his client had made the first statutory declaration voluntarily without duress.

He said he had first met Balasubramaniam two months ago at a restaurant where he was asked to help draft a formal document on the Altantuya case.

The declaration was made over a period of one and a half months in several meetings with Balasubramaniam, each lasting hours, he said.

“I had no reason to doubt that what Balasubramaniam told me was anything other than the truth. I was under the impression that he was a trustworthy person and what he said was what he perceived with his own senses,” he said.

Americk Singh said he was shocked that within 24 hours his client had engaged the services of another lawyer and made another statutory declaration, swearing that the first one was untrue and that he had been forced to sign it.

“As I am familiar with Mr Bala's character, having spent hours recording his statement, I am very sceptical that he signed the second statutory declaration on his own free will,” he added.

Americk Singh said that after the press conference on Thursday, he left with Balasubramaniam to go to his office and noticed that a number of calls to the private investigator’s mobile phone went unanswered.

He said Balasubramaniam had told him they were from the police, one of which was from ASP Tonny Lunggan, the investigating officer for the Altantuya murder case.

When Americk Singh told him that it was all right to answer the call, he said Balasubramaniam then spoke to ASP Tonny and the call was very lively and jovial.

He said when Balasubramaniam left his office at 4.45pm, he thought the private eye was going to meet ASP Tonny after 6.30pm for some fish head curry.

“He was in very good spirits when he left,” he said.

As to why he did not advise his client about his personal safety, Americk Singh retorted: “He was going to see the police. How much safer can you be?”

As to why they chose to have the press conference for the first statutory declaration at the PKR headquarters, he said: “I don’t think it was my decision personally”.

“I think at the end of the day, if you ask yourself honestly where else could he have had taken this to? He couldn’t have gone to the Umno HQ in PWTC because he wouldn’t have gotten anywhere! So let’s look at the situation realistically,” he said.

PKR vice-president R. Sivarasa, who was also at the press conference, said a Royal Commission of Inquiry was urgently needed to look into the matter of suppression of information and to establish which of the two statutory declarations was true.

He suggested that “another crime” had been committed on Thursday night which forced Balasubramaniam to retract his first statutory declaration.

“Who would have the motive to intimidate Balasubramaniam to retract the statement immediately?” he said.