Deepak asked to delay interview, says MACC
Syed Jaymal Zahiid, The Malaysian Insider
Controversial carpet dealer Deepak Jaikishan claimed he was “not in the (right) state of mind” to be questioned over his claims last week and asked for a postponement, says the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
MACC’s response was issued yesterday, a day after Deepak said he was told on Friday to return at a later date with documents pertaining to his allegations surrounding private investigator P. Balasubramaniam’s second sworn statement in 2008.
The second statutory declaration, was in relation to the 2006 high-profile murder of Mongolian Altantuyaa Shaariibuu.
“Deepak was greeted by one MACC officer (yesterday) and he subsequently told the officer that he was supposed to be at the MACC office because he had made an appointment with a reporter.
“When asked if he was ready to give his statement, Deepak told the officer that he was ‘not in the state of mind’ to have his statement recorded and requested that he does so on January 22, 2013, at 5pm,” the commission’s Deputy Chief Commissioner, Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull, said in a statement.
Deepak had told The Malaysian Insider on Friday that he expects to reveal everything to the MACC after he had recently admitted that he helped to get Balasubramaniam to repudiate his earlier statutory declaration on the matter, including finding two lawyers to draft the new statement.
The Bar Council is currently investigating the identity of lawyers and possible misconduct in the drafting of Balasubramaniam’s second sworn statement about the murder of Altantuya.
A cloud of mystery has hung over the identity of the lawyer who drew up Balasubramaniam’s second SD, dated a day after his first on July 3, 2008, regarding Altantuya’s 2006 murder, for which two elite police commandos have been convicted and are facing death sentences.
Balasubramaniam’s lawyer Americk Singh Sidhu had previously said M. Arunampalam’s role as the lawyer who had drafted the investigator’s second SD had been dispelled by well-connected businessman Deepak, who is also in the centre of the controversy surrounding Balasubramaniam’s two SDs.
