PI Bala: I swear first SD was the truth

The first statutory declaration linked Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shariibuu.

SEPANG Former private investigator P Balasubramaniam returned to Malaysia today and immediately declared that the first statutory declaration (SD) he made in 2008 on the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shariibuu was the truth.

Holding up a Hindu holy book Bhagavad Gita, he swore that the allegation linking Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to the murder contained in the first SD was a fact.

“I swear on this holy book that the first SD was the truth. But the circumstances that happened to me that night [after I produced the first SD] forced me to change.

“I m very sorry. But the truth can only be the truth. My lawyer and I sat for two months to draft the first SD,” he told reporters on arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport here.

Balasubramaniam was greeted by more than 50 people, mostly from PKR including Subang MP R Sivarasa.

Sivarasa, PKR Rembau division chief Badrul Hisham Shaharin (Chegubard) and a few PKR-linked NGO leaders took turns to garland the emotional Balasubramaniam while the crowd chanted “Welcome Bala, Long Live Bala”.

In his first SD announced on July 3, 2008, Balasubramaniam claimed that he was engaged by Abdul Razak Baginda in 2006 to deal with the Altantuya’s harassment. He was also told that Najib had a sexual relationship with Altantuya.

Balasubramaniam alleged that Najib was involved in the murder of Altantuya and the then Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan was asked to “take care” of the case for Najib.

However, he produced the SD the next day and retracted all his allegations against Najib.

He has since disappeared from public view and has reportedly been staying in India.

Balasubramaniam said his return was hassle-free as the Immigration Department officials did not harass him and only asked him about his address.

He also confirmed that carpet trader Deepak Jaikishan was the one who persuaded him to retract his first SD, but added that he would not team up with Deepak for a series of exposé on the Altantuya murder case

“Let me do my thing myself. I won’t specially go and do [a press conference] with him. I have full knowledge of the first SD. I can do it myself,” he said.

He also said he would not be overly worried about his safety, because should anything happen to him, it would paint the perpetrator in the Altantuya murder case in a bad light.

“If something happen to me tomorrow, where would you point your finger? There was already the first murder, do you want a second murder?” he said.

Balasubramaniam left for his home in Rawamg.

His first ceramah will be held at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall at 8pm on Feb 27. He will be sharing the same stage with Badrul Hisham and national laureate A Samad Said.