No immigration record of Raja Petra’s whereabouts

(The Star) – Police are investigating how Malaysia Today news portal editor Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin managed to leave the country without a trace.

There are no recent exit and entry records of Raja Petra at any immigration checkpoint in the country, said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan.

“We are waiting for a response from our counterparts in Australia, as we have sought their assistance to check if Raja Petra is still in Brisbane," he said.

Immigration director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman was quoted in a Malay daily as saying that there were no records of Raja Petra’s recent movements at all the designated checkpoints in the country.

Abdul Rahman had said that if reports that Raja Petra had gone overseas were true, he must have used “underground” routes to leave the country.

A Sessions Court had slapped Raja Petra with a second warrant of arrest when he failed to show up for his criminal defamation trial on Tuesday.

The court also issued a show-cause notice to Raja Petra’s wife and bailor Marina Lee Abdullah for not being in court to explain his absence.

The earlier arrest warrant against Raja Petra was issued by the KL Sessions Court on April 23 when he failed to turn up for his sedition trial. Raja Petra, 59, had on May 6 claimed trial to charges that he published a seditious article in his news portal.

On July 17 last year Raja Petra had claimed trial to three counts of criminal defamation over his statutory declaration on the murder of Mongolian translator Altantunya Shaaribu.

Raja Petra had allegedly defamed Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Lt-Kol Norhayati Hassan and her husband Lt-Kol Abdul Aziz Buyong.