Grilled by Anwar in court, Nalla now claims media twist

In a surprising turn of event, Malaysian United Indian Party president Senator S Nallakaruppan today denied accusing former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim of having taken RM60 million from gaming firm Magnum Corporation Bhd.

Nallakaruppan, who is on the witness stand at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, said the reports carried by the media – Mingguan Malaysia and Sinar Harian – had been twisted.

"I did not make the statement as it has been twisted," he told a packed court room.

Following this revelation, Anwar, who is conducting his own case in his RM100 million suit against Nalla, asked for a short break before Justice Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab, saying that if this had been said earlier there is no need to proceed with the trial.

"I will discuss with the defendant's lawyer (Muhammad Shafee Abdullah)."

Earlier, when questioned by Anwar, Nallakaruppan said 30 policemen swarmed his house on July 31, 1998 and seized many items.

Anwar jokingly asked why did this happen as “you are not an IS terrorist”.

Nallakaruppan said the police then wanted to find evidence that he had solicited information from the then deputy prime minister (Anwar) to be given to foreign government.

Anwar: Was this allegation true?

Nallakaruppan: No, it is not true as I do not want to implicate my friend (Anwar) as I was also threatened to admit this or be placed under the Internal Security Act. For this, I was held for 38 days.

Anwar: What happened during the 38 days of detention?

Nallakaruppan: The police tried to force me to sign a blank statement and forced me to admit that I was acting for a foreign country and that Anwar was providing me with the information. Anwar did not provide any information on the government and I refused to make such false statement or sign such blank document

This led Anwar to quip that "you must be a brave man". This led to laughter in the court room.

Anwar: Are you aware of an affidavit of Senior Assistant Commissioner II Musa Hassan who later rose to be the inspector-general of police that claimed that you (Nallakaruppan) gave me RM60 million.

Nallakaruppan: I was not aware. They threatened me with ISA, (but) I did not budge to implicate Anwar.

[More to follow]

-Mkini