To pre-empt lurid Bala thrilla, Najib warns against believing RPK
Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle
In a defensive move aimed at pre-empting calls for his resignation ahead of lurid details that are bound to emerge next week highlighting his role and relationship in the Altantuya murder and submarines graft case, Prime Minister Najib Razak has warned Malaysians not to believe top blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, who operates the popular news portal Malaysia Today.
“If Raja Petra is funded by the opposition, it means that his statements are politically-motivated. We should weigh them carefully and not merely accepting them,” Najib was quoted telling national news agency Bernama.
Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor have been implicated in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder as well as a billion-ringgit submarines graft case by a private investigator, P Balasubramaniam, who ironically was hired by the PM’s close friend Razak Baginda.
Why disallow MACC from going to London then?
Baginda had instructed Bala, a former police officer, to stop Altantuya from blackmailing him. The 28-year old Mongolian translator had threatened to blow the whistle on his role in receiving alleged kickbacks from the government’s purchase of two Scorpene submarines worth RM6.7 billion in 2002. Najib, who was then the defense minister, had ordered the acquisition even though there had been public disquiet about the submarines’ effectiveness in patrolling Malaysia’s shallow-watered coastline.
Due to the Najib administration’s refusal to initiate any graft probe, civil rights groups led by SUARAM have earlier this year lodged a complaint with the French police. They are trying to claim back on behalf of Malaysian taxpayers the alleged kickback from French naval firm DCNS, who sold the Scorpenes to the defense ministry.
“If Najib is serious about his credibility and the reputation of the country, he would have ordered the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to go to London and take down Bala’s statement next week,” Batu MP Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.
“But he didn’t. Instead, the indications are that he ordered the MACC, no doubt through the Attorney-General, to not go to London. If Bala reveals all the details, it will go on public record. Somehow, sometime, somewhere, someone will eventually dig out the case and the truth will be revealed to the world. This is what the Najib administration wants to avoid. So it is not Raja Petra or Balasubramaniam, it is Najib himself that Malaysians should be wary of and think carefully about before they believe anything he says.”
