So, who was right, Anwar or I?

As what I told Anwar earlier this week when we quarreled about me being too vocal: you should be happy that I still speak out. That means I still care. When I keep quiet that is when you should start getting worried. That means I no longer care a damn.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Rahimi under no duress when signing SDs, trio claim

(The Star) - Two PKR Youth exco members and a driver have refuted claims by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s former aide that he was forced to sign a statutory declaration (SD) implicating Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor in a sodomy case involving Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

They said the aide Rahimi Osman was never under duress when he signed the declaration.

Amirzudin Ahmad, Zulkifli Ibrahim and Dzulimran Md Nasar, who is Rahimi’s former driver, claimed they were with Rahimi when he signed the SD at Quality Hotel in Shah Alam on June 28, 2008.

They also denied Rahimi’s claim that he was held captive in the hotel.

Amirzudin, who spoke on behalf of the other two, said Rahimi even went to watch a live telecast of a football match at TV3’s Seri Pentas and later had coffee at a nearby mamak stall.

“There was no way that he was held captive as claimed,” he told a press conference at PKR headquarters here yesterday.

Also present were PKR information chief Latheefa Koya and lawyer for the three, N. Surendran.

Rahimi last week lodged a police report claiming that he was forced to sign the SD which was prepared by Latheefa.

Another Anwar’s former aide, Mohd Rasid Rosdi had also lodged similar report, claiming that he, too, was confined in the same hotel with Rahimi and made to sign a SD prepared by Latheefa against his will.

******************************************

Back in June 2008, when the Sodomy 2 issue first exploded onto the scene, I went to the Quality Hotel in Shah Alam to meet Anwar Ibrahim and his lawyers. The lobby of the hotel was crowded with reporters so at least 50 or more reporters can testify to this.

The reporters rushed up to me when they saw my wife and me walk in. Cameras were flashing and video recorders and microphones were shoved into my face. They all wanted to know what I was doing there and whether it had anything to do with the sodomy issue.

I just smiled and did not respond to the many questions. I then went upstairs to meet Anwar and his lawyers. The lawyers handed me a thick file with all sorts of documents and testimonies.

About an hour or so later I went downstairs and the big group of reporters was still there. When they saw my wife and me come out of the lift the reporters again rushed towards me and mobbed me. They all wanted to know what I was doing upstairs.

Some reporters noticed the thick file tied with red tape that I was carrying and they asked me what I had in my hands. I feigned ignorance and they said that when I arrived I was not carrying any file so this must have just been given to me. They wanted to know what was in the file.

I just smiled and said ‘no comment’. I then walked away, much to the chagrin of the reporters who had been camping in the hotel lobby since the night before and were hungry for a story.

That night I returned to the hotel with my video camera. There were still a few reporters lurking around the place but I managed to avoid them and went upstairs where I met Rahimi. I then video-recorded Rahimi’s statement and he revealed what happened -- such as him and Saiful going to meet Najib Tun Razak, what happened during that meeting, and so on.

I have in fact already written about this in the past in great detail.

After the recording session I made a copy of the video and handed it to Anwar’s lawyers. I kept the master tape at home. I then asked Anwar for permission to publish the video on Malaysia Today but Anwar would not let me. It seems his lawyers had advised him against it. They felt this expose should be reserved as evidence for the trial.

I told Anwar I disagreed with this strategy. I felt the video should be released immediately. The trial is not important, I told Anwar, because they will find him guilty whatever evidence he may have. In fact, as proven in the past, like in the Sodomy 1 trial, they can even fabricate evidence against him.

I felt they will always find ways and means to send him to jail, notwithstanding what evidence he may have to clear his name. Therefore it would be better to preempt every possible move they could make by publishing the video whilst Rahimi is still a ‘friendly party’. Money can turn many people and if Najib’s people get to Rahimi, and for the right price, he can always say that the video is a fake or that he was forced to say those things he said in the video, or whatever.

Rahimi spoke freely and openly. My wife or I did not torture him or force him into making the statement he made in that video. It was made willingly and voluntarily. After all, I was alone in the room with him and no toughies or bodyguards were present. He had a choice not to make any statement or to make a statement opposite to what he had said. On his own accord he testified that he and Saiful had gone to Najib’s office to discuss how to fix up Anwar on a sodomy allegation.

I was of the opinion we had something very explosive and that it should be immediately revealed to the public. But Anwar listened to his lawyers and I could not get him to change his mind. I even contemplated defying Anwar and going ahead with publishing the video against his wishes. After all, I thought that the lawyers were wrong and that this entire episode could backfire if they are not careful.

Anyway, I listened to Anwar, although with extreme reluctance, and did nothing. But I did tell Anwar that the lawyers should do what he says and not he does what the lawyers say. Let the lawyers focus on preparing for the trial and leave the political strategies to us who know better, I told Anwar. I also told Datuk Kamarul Bahrin Abbas, the MP for Teluk Kemang, the same thing -- who agreed with me and thought that the lawyers were wrong.

Three months later, in September 2008, the police came to my house to detain me under the Internal Security Act. They spent a couple of hours ransacking my house looking for ‘evidence’. They soon stumbled upon my collection of videos, VCDs and other documents.

“What are these?” they asked while holding up the videos.

“They are certainly not porn or recordings of my wife and me having sex,” I replied. (I hide all those in another place as Boom, Rodi, Vic, MsMo and Chris can confirm). They are recordings of events, I told the police.

The police informed me that they would have to confiscate them. I protested but to no avail and all my videos, VCDs and documents were carted away by the police.

Two months later, in November 2008, the Shah Alam High Court ordered my release. But the police did not return all my things they confiscated. Until today the police are still in possession of my videos, VCDs and documents.

Nevertheless, the copies I made of Rahimi’s confession/testimony are with Anwar’s team of lawyers. So what happened to them? This is something Anwar must reply to.

Back in 1999, during the Sodomy 1 trial, I told Anwar that my Deep Throat had informed me that some of his lawyers are on Umno’s payroll. Their job is to mess up the trial so that the government can secure a conviction against Anwar.

Anwar, of course, did not believe me. He thought that all his lawyers were angels in disguise. I felt that some were actually devils in disguise.

True enough, two of Anwar’s lawyers have since sold him out and have crossed over to Umno. Maybe they never really crossed over to Umno. Maybe they were with Umno all long and had infiltrated Anwar’s team of lawyers so that they could damage his defence.

I now ask Anwar: is he very sure he does not have Umno moles is his present team of lawyers who are working on his Sodomy 2 trial? If not then where are the copies of those video recordings I gave them? Have they mysteriously disappeared? If so, how did they disappear?

Now Rahimi is alleging that he was forced into signing that Statutory Declaration against his will. And I have a video recording to prove that this is not so. But the police confiscated the master tapes and it seems that Anwar’s lawyers have lost the copies. Don’t you smell a rat?

Sebab tu lah! When I criticise Anwar he gets very angry with me. When I allege that he is surrounded by moles, Trojan Horses, Judas and Brutus, he says I am being mischievous and malicious and am ‘serving certain interests’ to create a rift in PKR. He feels I am a plant whose motive is to destroy party unity.

Well, answer one question then: where is the video recording of Rahimi’s testimony, which I gave his lawyers?

Aiyah Datuk Kamarul! Please talk to Anwar lah! I dah fed up nak cakap. And I know you too feel the same way because you have lamented enough times about this same matter. But it looks like we need to save Anwar from himself -- or at least from those surrounding him.

As what I told Anwar earlier this week when we quarreled about me being too vocal: you should be happy that I still speak out. That means I still care. When I keep quiet that is when you should start getting worried. That means I no longer care a damn.