‘Rosmah is like older sister to me, nothing more’

(Malaysiakini) – The mystery “carpet man” alleged to be closely linked to self-proclaimed First Lady of Malaysia Rosmah Mansor said today said she is like an “older sister” to him, nothing more.

Deepak Jaikishan, the carpet dealer mentioned numerous times by blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, said Rosmah “is a good person, if you know her personally”.

He denied Raja Petra’s claims in a recent posting on Malaysia Today that he was trying to get back into Rosmah’s good books, saying that the extent of their relationship was confined to carpets and the gossip around town.

“I first got to know her about six or seven years ago, when she visited our family shop. I know her, and treat her like an older sister,” he told a press conference at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur.Deepak rubbished Raja Petra’s claims that he was Rosmah’s “confidante” and “toyboy”, saying instead that she and her husband, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, had been kind enough to write commendation letters and introduce his family’s carpet business to new clients.

He denied that he had gone about either “bad mouthing or praising” Najib and Rosmah, claiming that the people behind Raja Petra’s post on Malaysia Today are simply trying to create “discord” between him and his clients.

He also laughed off the blogger’s allegations that he intended to bring private eye P Balasubramaniam (left) back to Malaysia to file a new statutory declaration to absolve the premier and his wife of any involvement in the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

“If I had the power to get him back (to Malaysia), why would I do it now? Why not last month, or six months ago? This is inaccurate information… this is wrong. If you want to accuse someone, have the facts,” he said.

Deepak admitted that he had met Balasubramaniam on two occasions after a mutual friend – an officer from the police’ serious crimes ‘D9’ division by the name of Suresh – had introduced them.

‘Bala asked for money’

He said Balasubramaniam and Suresh were “clubbing boys” with his younger brother Danesh, but he did not see any reason to get close to the private investigator.

“After Suresh introduced us, I met him one more time. He asked me for money, it was either RM500 or RM1,000, but I told him I cannot (give him the money)… I didn’t want to be involved in (Balasubramaniam’s) financial matters,” he said.

Deepak added that he had never issued the two cheques allegedly totalling RM5 million to Balasubramaniam (left) as payment for retracting his first statutory declaration implicating Najib and Rosmah in Altantuya’s murder.

He said he had met with investigators from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission last year to give his statement on Balasubramaniam’s claims, pointing out that the cheques in question were not even real.

“The cheques are not real, they are doctored. It wasn’t my signature on the cheques. Even the cheque numbers did not exist.”

When asked, Deepak said that he had never met Altantuya.

“I have never seen her, though I think she’s quite pretty.”