Lawyer Americk Sidhu says he does not know what's in the pen drive in the possession of his client Charles Suresh Morais that Charles claims holds incriminating information on high-profile individuals.
In a statutory declaration (SD) made on Nov 25, Charles said his murdered brother, deputy public prosecutor Kevin Anthony Morais, sent him the pen drive.
The police are due to question Americk today on his involvement in drafting the SD.
The lawyer disclosed that Charles had engaged his services in September, soon after Kevin was reported missing.
However, Americk said, he was not aware of any plan to make a SD until Nov 24, a day after Richard Dilaan Morais, the youngest brother of Charles and Kevin (photo), retrieved Kevin's remains from the Kuala Lumpur Hospital mortuary.
The move thwarted Charles’ plan for a second post-mortem to be conducted on Kevin's body, after he had expressed dissatisfaction over the first post-mortem.
“He (Charles) came up with it (the SD) the day after Kevin's body was taken away. Before that, he wasn't going to make any SD at all.
“He was just so incensed that after being here (in Malaysia) for two months - trying to organise a second post-mortem – and then his brother basically just steals the body and takes it away, despite his brother knowing what was happening.
“So that's why, at the end of the day, Charles is very angry,” Americk told Malaysiakini when contacted yesterday.
Body found in cement drum
Kevin’s body was found in a cement-filled drum on Sept 16. On Sept 28, six men were charged with his murder and two others charged with abetting the crime.
Americk said he was aware of some of the details in Charles' SD prior being told to draft it, but not all.
However, he declined to elaborate on this, saying the information is solicitor-client privilege.
Asked about the contents of the pen drive, Americk said he did not know what was inside.
“Charles (photo) told me that everything Kevin told him on the phone would be put in a pen drive. That's all I know from Charles. Charles put that in his SD, so that's not confidential,” he said.
Americk told Malaysiakini that Charles engaged his services a few days after Kevin was reported gone missing on Sept 4, after being recommended by family members.
At the time, he said, Charles was still in Atlanta, United States, and had no specific request except to represent him in handling matters related to Kevin's disappearance.
He said he didn't realise it at the time, but it turned out that he and Charles were related in a way, and hence the relatives had suggested that Charles hires Americk.
He explained that his brother-in-law's mother turned out to be Charles' godmother, and he also came to know many of Charles' relatives when he was reading law in London.
Americk said he was not aware of any of these relationships when he agreed to assist Charles, until their mutual family members told him of this afterwards.
'High-level conspiracy'
On Nov 25, Charles signed the SD that Americk helped to prepare and held a press conference on it in Kuala Lumpur.
Charles claims in the SD that his elder brother Kevin was involved in preparing a charge sheet against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, and that there was a high-level conspiracy behind Kevin’s murder.
He claimed that his brother had related details about the investigation to him by phone, and subsequently, Kevin sent him a pen drive containing incriminating information.
“It is in safe custody in the US, with someone who has instructions to release it publicly should anything untoward happen to me for swearing this statutory declaration.
“The contents of this pen drive clearly and unequivocally reveal the investigation Kevin had been tasked with just before his untimely death, which implicates certain personalities who currently walk the corridors of power in Malaysia,” Charles states in his SD.
Charles declined to divulge the contents of the pen drive when asked during the press conference he held last week.
Attorney-general Mohd Apandi Ali dismissed Charles' claims as 'preposterous'.
Memories of Bala
Asked whether the drafting of Charles' SD brought him back memories of private investigator P Balasubramaniam's case, Americk replied in the affirmative.
“Yes of course. Déjà vu. I thought, 'Oh God, here we go again',” Americk replied.
Nevertheless, he said, he went along because that was what his client wanted.
Americk helped draft the SD of the late Balasubramaniam in 2008, in which PI Bala, as the late private investigator is better known, implicated Najib in the murder of the Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.
Bala made a second SD the very next day, recanting several paragraphs of the first SD related to Najib, and then promptly fled to India.
He returned in 2013 and claimed that the first SD was correct, but died of a heart attack in March that year, although he was supposed to campaign for the opposition in the looming general election.
Najib, on his part, swore he is innocent and that he never knew Altantuya, while authorities also dismissed Bala’s claims. -Mkini
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