DISBELIEF greets P.I. Bala's death

Malaysians are reacting with shock and disbelief amid news today that P. Balasubramaniam, the witness in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial, has passed away.

Reports say Bala, who earlier this week publicly expressed gratitude for having survived a possible cardiac arrest, died of heart attack at around 2.00 pm while waiting to be taken to hospital.

News portal The Malaysian Insider quoted Bala's lawyer Americk Singh Sidhu as saying that Bala's wife had called for an ambulance when he had a heart attack, but that it was "too late" by the time the ambulance arrived. Later, rights lawyer Sivarasa Rasiah twitted that Bala died in a clinic in Rawang where he sought treatment.

Bala, 53, shot to fame when he issued a statutory declaration showing prime minister Najib Razak's links with the late Altantuya.

In the statutory declaration issued in July 2008, Bala, hired to keep a track on Altantuya by Najib's aide Abdul Razak Baginda who was later acquitted of the murder charge, quoted Razak Baginda as telling him that Najib introduced Altantuya at a function in Singapore.

Bala also claimed that Razak said Najib wanted him (Razak) “to look after” Altantuya, as he did not want her to harass him now that he was the deputy prime minister.

Hours after making the claim, Bala issued another statutory declaration denying the first one, before disappearing from public view. In recent times, businessman Deepak Jaikishan has confirmed suspicions of Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor's intervention in forcing Bala to retract the first SD.

Bala returned to Malaysia last month, vowing to expose more details of Najib's alleged involvement in the murder saga.

-Harakahdaily