PKR leaders deny masterminding exposé

Subang MP R Sivarasa and party vice president N Surendran say they decided to take up the carpet businessman's case in their capacity as lawyers.

PETALING JAYA: PKR leaders mentioned in the video shown by pro-Umno blogger Papagomo have denied that the party is behind the recent exposé by carpet businessman Deepak Jaikishen.

In a text message to FMT, Subang MP R Sivarasa said that PKR vice-president N Surendran and himself were appointed by Deepak to represent the latter in his suit against Selangor Wanita Umno chief Raja Roopiah Abdullah ‘s company, Awan Megah, regarding a land deal.

He also denied plotting any conspiracy against Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor.

“In Deepak’s evidence in court under oath, he himself stated that Najib and Rosmah were involved in approving the sale of a 223 acre land in Bukit Rajah by her company (Awan Megah) to Deepak’s company, which originaly belonged to the Defence Ministry.” said Sivarasa.

Yesterday, Papagomo posted a video on his website, alleging that Deepak’s recent expose on Najib and Rosmah was enginereed by PKR’s de facto leader, Anwar Ibrahim.

The two-minute clip also showed a man, purportedly Deepak, mentioning names of key PKR leaders such as PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar, apart from Sivarasa and Surendran.

Sivarasa said that Deepak himself had told in an interview with an online portal that the latter had made substantial payments to “a member of Najib’s family” for certain favours received.

“The nature of the transaction in Deepak’s suit was clearly of public interest because the value of the land mentioned is now worth about RM400 million or more.

“Najib and Rosmah need to answer this serious allegation instead of using scurrilous Umno bloggers to allege a conspiracy,” he said.

Sivarasa said that he had approched Anwar before taking up the case due its political implications.

“But I made the decision to take up Deepak’s case, just as I act for all my other clients. There is no way I coached him on anything.

“Deepak gave oral sworn evidence in an open court without the benefit of a written witness statement. He has also proceeded, on his own accord, to publicly disclose more serious matters unrelated to the specific issues in the court case I am handling. Those are his personal actions.

“So allegations that I am angry with him are simply nonsensical. I am actually quite impressed that Deepak is prepared to risk an aggressive response from Najib and Rosmah,” he added.

‘We didn’t coach him’

Similarly, Surendran said PKR was not behind Deepak’s allegations against the prime minister and his wife.

“This was Deepak’s own doing, for the simple reason of exposing the truth. I think he feels remorse on the SD issue. That’s my understanding of the whole thing,” he said via email.

The PKR vice-president also said that he was taking up Deepak’s case purely on a lawyer-client relationship.

“Besides, the case is a matter of public interest as an Umno Wanita leader is implicated. It was Deepak who approached us. We didn’t coach him to do anything,” he added.

Training his guns against Papagomo, Surendran accused pro-Umno bloggers of being “stupid” for not answering allegations made by Deepak.

“Umno bloggers should not be jumping up and down to find who was behind Deepak’s exposé. What is important is for Najib to answer the accusations made, not keep quiet.” he said.

In the video clip, Deepak claims that Anwar flew down from Jakarta to meet him and promised to provide him with a lawyer (Sivarasa) for his case against Raja Ropiaah.