Key figures in Lingam-tape saga receive threats

Three key figures linked to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam-tape incident today claim that they were recently threatened.

Lawyer VK Lingam's former secretary GN Jayanthi (left) claims that she had received several threatening text messages and is worried for her safety.

Her worries are compounded by the death of Lingam's brother V Rajendran after a brawl on Aug 7 and Lingam's driver D Ramachandran as a result of a car accident in May.

During a press conference at Kelana Jaya MP Loh Gwo Burne's office today, Jayanthi revealed that she had received seven such text messages on her phone which used lewd language.

One message read "You stupid. Fat as pig" while another "You are doomed for life".

According to the police report lodged on July 8, the message originated from a phone that had a United Kingdom prefix.

She claims that to date, there has been no word from the police.

MP: Too many coincidences

Jayanthi said that following the death of Rajendran and Ramachandra, she is worried that she may be "the next victim".

According to Loh, Lingam's younger brother V Thirunama Karasu has also received threats and is now in hiding.

Loh (left) also claims that he had received threats in May and his office had been broken into three times this year alone. He does not discount the possibility that all this was linked to the Lingam tape.

"There are too many coincidences. I don't rule out the possibilities, but I don't want to point fingers. Maybe it is political harassment. I am not sure," he said.

Loh added that after two "unnatural" deaths, he said that he along with Jayanthi and Thirunama were both possible targets.

He said that as an MP, he could not go into hiding unlike a civilian and urged the police to take action.

Jayanthi added that she might seek protection from the police.

Accused of improprieties

Loh, Thirunama, Rajendran and Jayanthi had all accused Lingam of improprieties following public outcry over a grainy video allegedly portraying the lawyer speaking about future judicial appointments which later were found to be astonishingly accurate.

Loh is the maker of the video while Thirunama claims that he used to perform odd jobs for Lingam, which he claims includes sending gifts to judges.

After Lingam had tried to discredit Thirunama, stating that he was mentally unsound, their younger brother Rajendran came out todefend him.

Jayanthi's role in the inquiry includes dropping a bombshell that she had stayed at Lingam's office between November and early December 1994 to draft a judgment which eventually became a landmark decision.

The case in question was Vincent Tan's defamation suit against veteran journalist MGG Pillai. The decision read out by High Court judge Mokhtar Sidin went in Tan's favour. Lingam was Tan's counsel during the case.

courtesy of Malaysiakini