Cops must still probe RPK’s SD, says PKR veep
By G Vinod, Free Malaysia Today
PETALING JAYA: Despite the latest bombshell from exiled blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, police must still investigate an allegation that Rosmah Mansor was at the scene of the Altantuya murder, PKR vice president N Surendran said today.
He said Raja Petra’s revelation in a TV3 interview aired yesterday had no legal bearing on the contents of the statutory declaration (SD) he signed in 2008 unless there was evidence that he did it under duress.
He noted that Raja Petra, in both the SD and the TV3 interview, said he was “reliably informed” that the Prime Minister’s wife was at the scene when Mongolian model and translator Altantuya Shaaribuu was killed with explosives.
The influential blogger said he received his information from a military intelligence officer, Col Azmi Zainal Abidin.
Surendran, who is also a coordinator for Lawyers for Liberty, said that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had not satisfactorily rebutted allegations by the French newspaper Liberation that there was corruption in the Malaysian purchase of submarines from France. Altantuya was said to be involved in the deal as a translator.
“At the material time, Najib was defence minister and he was responsible for the purchase,” he said.
“There is also no reasonable explanation given as to why the Malaysian company Perimekar received payment of Euro114 million out of the submarine deal. The deal is now the subject of an ongoing French corruption investigation.”
Last year, French authorities opened an investigation into the purchase of the Scorpene submarines following a request from Suaram, which alleged that French shipbuilder DCN had paid the Euro 114 million as commission to Perimekar, a company linked to Najib aide Abdul Razak Baginda.
Abdul Razak was charged with abetting in Altantuya’s murder but the Shah Alam High Court acquitted him in October 2008.
Surendran said he was disappointed that Malaysian authorities were keeping quiet while French authorities were investigating the allegation.
“The allegations and the surrounding issues are so serious and of such wide-ranging impact that we need a royal commission of inquiry to probe it,” he said.
RPK denies implicating Najib, Rosmah
In an interview with TV3 last night, Raja Petra revealed that his statutory declaration linking Najib with the murder of Altantuya was made based on information and demand by several individuals aimed at preventing Najib from becoming prime minister.
