Lawyer keeps mum over Suaram funding

(NST) - A lawyer implicated in the latest expose involving funding for Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) has declined to comment on the matter.

"I won't talk to newspapers," said M. Puravalen yesterday.

On Sunday, former Parti Keadilan Rakyat leader Ng Lum Kong had urged R. Sivarasa, who is former Suaram leader, to reveal whether Suaram was funded by a Chinese tycoon.

"Is Suaram funded by the same individual who paid private investigator P. Balasubramaniam RM20,000 a month," Ng had asked.

This follows claims by blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin that Balasubramaniam was paid off after he had signed a statutory declaration on July 1, 2008, in a plot to slander Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

In his expose published on online portal Malaysia-today.net, Raja Petra had named several people, including Sivarasa, who is also the Subang member of parliament, and Puravalen.

Raja Petra said he first met Balasubramaniam at Puravalen's house regarding the Altantuya Shaariibuu's murder on July 2, 2008, after receiving a call from Sivarasa earlier on that day.

He claimed that Sivarasa, Puravalen, Balasubramaniam and an ex-police officer were present during the meeting.

On July 31, Companies Commission chief executive officer Mohd Naim Daruwis, in a press statement, said Suaram was not a non-governmental organisation, but an entity registered as a company called Suara Inisiatif Sdn Bhd with a paid-up capital of RM2.