MACC spooked over Altantuyagate, says lawyer
By Chen Yi Ling, Free Malaysia Today
LONDON: Pressure has built up on Malaysian authorities to reveal more than what has been the official version about the Altantunya murder, the circumstances surrounding it and the people involved.
At a much-awaited press conference here yesterday, one of private eye P Balasubramaniam’s lawyers added new life to a persistent rumour that the relevant public agencies are involved in a huge cover-up to keep Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s name out in any official reference to the murder.
Manjeet Singh Dhillon, a prominent lawyer, said the police or some other authority edited Najib’s name out of the statements that Bala made to the police during their investigation into the murder. This allegation has surfaced before on the Internet and in the opposition media, but never so starkly or at an event that has had so much advanced publicity.
“There has been a tremendous cover-up to save the possible perpetrators of this murder,” Manjeet said.
Yesterday’s press conference was in lieu of the one Bala and his lawyers had planned as an event that would follow the private eye’s interview with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
The anti-graft body had agreed to meet Bala over his allegation that he was bribed and blackmailed by one of Najib’s brothers, Nazim, to leave Malaysia after making a statutory declaration contradicting an earlier one. In the earlier declaration, he alleged that Najib knew Altantuya personally. Bala has also said that Deepak Jaikishan, a businessman known to Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor, abetted Nazim in the bribery and blackmail.
