Lawyer not part of MACC review on Bala’s SD probe, says panel chief

ARCHIVES 2012

By admin-s On Dec 20, 2012

(The Malaysian Insider) – Prominent lawyer Tan Sri Cecil Abraham was not part of the graftbuster review team that had closed the file on P. Balasubramaniam’s controversial second sworn statement over the 2006 murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu, the head of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Operations Review Panel (PPO) said today.

Abraham had been named as the mystery lawyer suspected to have drafted the private investigator’s (picture)contradictory second statutory declaration (SD) by several high-profile figures questioning a possible conflict of interest as the former also sits on board of the MACC review panel.

“PPO had agreed with the decision by the Deputy Public Prosecutor to stop investigating the case on grounds the main witnesses’ testimonies were not supported by any other witness and the credibility of the main witnesses were disputable.

“PPO wishes to state that one of the panel members, Tan Sri Datuk Cecil Abraham was not present and was not involved in that meeting,” Tan Sri Hadenan Abdul Jalil, chairman of the eight-man MACC operations review panel, said in a media statement today.

Hadenan said the case, which was linked to that of carpet merchant Deepak Jaikishan Rewachand, had been presented at a PPO pre-meeting on November 8.

However, he was silent on the allegations surrounding Abraham.