More Revealed - Bala The Missing PI

Be sure to check out the video interview with Bala about how he was bribed and threatened to retract his first statutory declaration.



Article from The Malaysian Insider.

PI Bala Claims Second SD Made Under Threat To Family

UPDATED

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 — Missing private investigator P. Balasubramaniam is now saying he rescinded a statutory declaration (SD) linking Datuk Seri Najib Razak to a murdered Mongolian model after his family was threatened within a day of his statement in July 2008.


Bala also related in an interview carried by the Malaysia-Today.net news portal today that he left the country for Singapore the same day of his second SD and later for Bangkok.


He stressed that he signed the second SD without even reading it.


The former policeman also claimed he was given the equivalent of RM20,000 in Hong Kong dollars for expenses as he and his family were due to go to the Chinese city. However, they switched destinations to Chennai.


In the second part of an interview filed under the column of fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, Bala said the entire process of repudiating the first SD was coordinated by a businessman named Deepak, whom Raja Petra claims is a close associate of Najib’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.


The first part of the interview was carried last week and included an 88-second video clip. Bala’s confession came about as he was a witness in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial by virtue of being a private detective hired to keep watch over her by political strategist Abdul Razak Baginda, who was acquitted of plotting his former lover’s death.


“I was concerned for the safety of my family. Deepak had informed me he wanted me to retract my first statutory declaration and then to immediately leave the country with my family,” said Bala in reply to questions in the interview.


“I was in a state of shock as to what was happening. I had anticipated that I would be arrested and interrogated after releasing my first statutory declaration but I did not anticipate my family would be threatened so I was not prepared for this.


“As this VIP Datuk was also involved, I realised the situation was very serious,” he said without naming the person.


Bala then related how he went home and explained to his wife that they were leaving Malaysia immediately, instructing her to apply for passports for their children and to renew her own passport.


Bala claims he was coerced into signing the second SD. — Reuters pic
He added he arranged for them to also take their luggage along so that they could leave soon after the passports were issued.


Bala then followed a police officer friend, who was suspended from duty, to the Hilton KL to meet Deepak and the businessman’s brother, Dinesh, were he told them he preferred going to Chennai rather than Hong Kong.


“Deepak agreed to this. He then tried to arrange a private jet for us. This had to be cancelled when it was realised we would have to go through immigration at the airport.


“Deepak then suggested we go through Singapore by road, and then fly to Bangkok en route to Chennai. I agreed,” he added.


Bala said the conversation then turned to the seriousness of the first SD and that he had to retract it or “otherwise they could not guarantee anything if the deal failed”.


He also claimed that Deepak bragged about being close to Rosmah as she frequented the businessman’s carpet shop in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Kuala Lumpur.


Bala said at 7.45am on July 3, someone delivered a draft copy of the second statutory declaration to the hotel, which Deepak picked up.


He said he was then asked sign the new statutory declaration in front of a Malay man who was said to be a commissioner for oaths and who attested his signature. Once this was done, Deepak left in a separate car.


“I was never given an opportunity to read the contents of this statutory (declaration),” Bala stressed.


Bala explained he and Dinesh then went to the Prince Hotel in Kuala Lumpur where they met with Deepak again, who introduced him to “Mr Arunampalam”, a lawyer.


“This lawyer spoke to me and told me to just keep quiet in the press conference arranged for us in the main lobby. He told me not to talk to any of the reporters under any circumstances and that he would do all the talking,” he added.


He claimed Deepak then told Arunampalam to answer not more than three questions from the reporters waiting downstairs and handed him a few copies of the second statutory declaration to distribute.


Bala said both Arunampalam and he took the lift down to the main lobby, where they met four or five reporters.


“Mr. Arunampalam talked to them and gave each of them a copy second statutory declaration. He told the reporters that I had been forced to sign the first statutory declaration under duress and that I now wanted to retract the contents,” he claimed, adding the lawyer refused to answer questions asked by the reporters.


Bala said the lawyer then drove him back to the Hilton KL and that he never saw the man again.


Asked if he had engaged the lawyer, Bala said, “No. I have never met this lawyer before. Deepak was the one who arranged for him to represent me at the press conference. I never told him what to say. All this was arranged by Deepak and not myself.”


He said he then went back to a hotel room where Deepak gave him RM20,000 worth of Hong Kong dollars for expenses.


“He told me he had arranged a tourist van to drive me and my family to Singapore where we were to catch a flight to Bangkok,” said Bala, who then went to pick up his family at the Pusat Bandar Damansara immigration office and left immediately for Singapore by road.


“The driver stopped at the Malaysian immigration at the causeway and we all had to get out of the van to present our passports at the counter. None of our passports were stamped,” he said, adding they then cleared Singapore immigration and headed for the Changi international airport.


He said he then changed some money to call Deepak about their Bangkok flight and was told the tickets were at the Silkair counter.


“We all caught the evening flight to Bangkok, which left Singapore at about 8.00pm,” Bala said.


The news portal is to publish more of the interview in the coming weeks.


There has been no official reaction from Najib and family over Bala’s claims but some pro-Umno bloggers have poured scorn over the latest allegations as an opposition smear campaign to unseat the prime minister.





C Guevara