Deepak: Police intimidating me

Carpet dealer claims the police and MACC are getting orders from “higher ups” to stop him from revealing the truth behind Altantuya Shaariibuu’s murder.

PETALING JAYA: Deepak Jaikishan has accused policemen of working “in synergy” with the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) to stop him from implicating Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in the 2006 murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu.

The controversial businessman told reporters today he suspected they were receiving “instructions from above” to pressure him from disclosing all he knew regarding the premier and his family.

He cited as example his latest appointment with the MACC on Jan 25, in which the police had allegedly disrupted him as he was recording his statement over P Balasubramiam’s second statutory declaration.

“I was in the middle of writing out my statement. I had only completed two pages when the police called me up. They were in my office and wanted me to go over to the Jalan Duta Court Complex immediately to give evidence under Section 111A,” recalled Deepak.

Deepak said he had asked the presiding MACC officer to explain to the policeman over the phone that he was in the middle of recording his statement, but the officer refused.

“He said ‘no, we cannot talk to him, but you go, then you come back again.’ So I know the MACC and the police are all in synergy. They want to stop me from continuing with my statement,” he said.

Deepak claimed that when he arrived in court, he was then told by the police to go to the Jalan Duta ACP’s house in Bangsar to record a statement regarding what he knew of Altantuya’s murder.

There, he said, he was met by the ACP and proceeded to record his statement for four hours before finally returning home at 11pm.

“It was all done in a cloak and dagger style to intimidate me,” claimed Deepak.

According to Deepak, that wasn’t the first time the MACC had attempted to undermine his efforts to “reveal the truth”.

He said that during his first appointment with the MACC on Jan 18, the officers had refused to look through all the documents he had brought.

He also said that while he was in Putrajaya for that appointment, several people went to his office to create a “ruckus”.

“I had to go back to the office, then went to Putrajaya and recorded my statement with MACC that lasted half an hour.”

Pressure from all sides

Deepak said he was now under duress from all quarters, and was receiving “love letters” from various government agencies such as the customs department relating to cases dated back from 2000.

“They tell me all these cases will come to me in February, by sheer coincidence,” Deepak added sarcastically. “I know the tactics they are employing.”

He said that even Boustead Holdings’ takeover of his company, Astacanggih, was a form of intimidation so that he’ll drop his lawsuit against Putrajaya for an alleged breach of agreement over land in Bukit Raja, Selangor.

Deepak accused Najib of ordering Boustead, which is a unit of Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT), to purchase the 80% stake in his company.

“I was there when the chairman of Boustead received a phone call from Najib ordering him to buy my company. And I had no choice but to sell it because otherwise my bank would issue a foreclosure notice.”

But instead of frightening him into silence, Deepak said that the intimidation tactics had emboldened him.

“Their tactics are not working in their favour. In fact, now I want to take the platform of asking the Attorney General for witness protection,” said Deepak.

Deepak, once a close associate of Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor, had previously alleged that he paid a substantial sum of money to the premier’s family to be a party in a defence project deal headed by Selangor Wanita Umno chief Raja Ropiaah Raja Abdullah.

The businessman also claimed that Rosmah had asked his help in persuading Balasubramaniam to repudiate his first statutory declaration implicating Najib in Altantuya’s murder.

But Najib dismissed Deepak’s allegations as untrue.