Malaysians brace for the Bala thrilla at London’s Holiday Villa

ARCHIVES 2010

By admin-s On Jul 2, 2010

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

As the clock ticks down to next week’s thriller-presser by private investigator P Balasubramaniam, there is widespread argument as to whether he and lawyers will really tell all they know about Prime Minister Najib Razak’s role in the Altantuya murder and the Scopenes graft scandal, or will they hold back some for a ‘rainy day’.

“For the sake of their personal safety, it makes sense that they may wish to keep the some of the more incriminating evidence until they meet face-to-face with the Malaysian authorities. But even so, from what his lawyers have said, it looks like we can expect a real thriller,” PKR strategic director Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

From London to Paris

Tian was in London last month and also traveled to Paris with civil rights group SUARAM, where they met Parisian authorities probing Malaysia’s purchase of two Scorpene submarines from French defense firm DCNS. SUARAM had lodged a complaint with the French prosecutors earlier this year about possible corruption in the deal, which may have set back Malaysian taxpayers by at least 114 euros or RM570 million.

The Scorpenes deal and the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaaribuu are intertwined. Altantuya is believed to have been a go-between in negotiations between Malaysia and DCNS. Najib, who was then the defense minister sanctioning the deal, has been accused by Bala of having been lovers with the 28-year old Altantuya. According to the former police officer, she was killed to stop her from blowing the whistle on the deal, which also involves Najib’s close friend Razak Baginda. Bala was hired by Baginda to stop Altantuya from blackmailing him.

Meanwhile, Bala’s lawyer Americk Sidhu has confirmed that Bala will carry on with a press conference on July 7 to debrief the Malaysian public and the world at large on the torrid sex, murder and corruption scandal. His client fled Malaysia in 2008 after making a statutory declaration (see below) that contained many startling and even lurid details of the murder. He also touched on the defense ministry’s whopping 1.34 billion euros submarines purchase.