Political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda apparently regretted not paying the US$500,000 in "commission" due to slain Mongolian Altantuya Shaaribuu, claimed former private investigator P Balasubramaniam.
He recounted Razak as allegedly saying this just prior to his arrest in 2006.

Balasubramaniam, employed by Razak then, was giving a blow-by-blow account of the circumstances surrounding Altantuya's death during his first public appearance last night after fleeing the country nearly five years ago.


Habdul razak baginda pc 201108 06e said he was leaving the office of a lawyer identified as Puravelan, with Razak, in a lift at that time. 

Newspapers were already speculating then about Razak (left) being arrested soon, and the lawyer was busy preparing his client for such an eventuality.

Upon hearing this, the private investigator supposedly told Razak, "Boss, look here. What was my advice to you? Police report. You should have done the police report."


Went against advice

Balasubramaniam explained that Razak had engaged him to keep Altantuya at bay, but the private eye advised him to lodge a police report instead.

However, Razak purportedly declined to do so because "a VVIP was involved," who was later revealed to be then defence minister and now Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Altantuya was said to be demanding US$500,000 (RM1,550,750) and three air tickets to Mongolia from Razak at the time, supposedly as "fees" for her role in mediating the Scorpene submarine deal.

Balasubramaniam said Razak did end up being arrested on Nov 7, the day the conversation took place, just 30 minutes upon reaching his office at Bangunan Getah Asli, Kuala Lumpur after the meeting.


azlanHe was eventually charged and acquitted of allegedly abetting in Altantuya's murder, while two police Special Action Unit (UTK) officers were sentenced to death for allegedly shooting Altantuya and blasting her remains with military-grade explosives.

Some 1,000 people crammed Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall's main hall last night to hear first-hand what Balasubramaniam had to say on the Mongolian's killing.

New revelations were few and far in between while Balasubramaniam often stumbled to find the right words and had to rely on a Powerpoint slide he had prepared since his return to recall some of the events.


Exposures entrance crowd

Nevertheless, the audience remained glued to their seats - or the floor if they couldn't find one - for nearly two hours until around 11.30pm as Balasubramaniam painstakingly went through the events.

This included what had transpired between him and Razak from their introduction until the arrest, the circumstances surrounding his first statutory declaration implicating Najib in the murder and a second statutory declaration made under duress to retract it, and further attempts to bribe him to slander opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.


NONEThe audience appeared to be engaged by Balasubramaniam's version of the events, clapping and cheering at key points of his talk or whenever a prominent personality's name, like Najib, cropped up.

They also booed at a video of Najib denying any involvement in the incident that was screened as part of the prelude to the talk.

Other speakers included Suaram secretariat member Cynthia Gabriel and cartoonist Zulkiflee SM Anwar Ulhaque, better known as Zunar.

During the talk, Balasubramaniam mentioned that he was alone with the commissioner of oaths during the second statutory declaration.

When event moderator Badrul Hisham Shaharin asked him about a lawyer supposedly involved in preparing the document, Balasubramaniam said he only knew of this through ‘hearsay' via businessperson Deepak Jaikishan, who had persuaded him to make the declaration.


NONE"If you ask me, I don't know. I only heard the hearsay info because Deepak had already mentioned that it was Cecil Abraham (left)," he said, drawing cheers from the crowd.

He said his lawyer Americk Sidhu and human rights activist Haris Ibrahim had pressured the Bar Council to look into the allegation and its president Lim Chee Wee had asked him to give a statement.

"If everything goes right, Cecil Abraham's cover will be blown," he said. 


When approached by Malaysiakini last month, Cecil had refused to comment on the allegations. Malaysiakini is currently seeking Razak Baginda’s comments on the matter.-malaysiakini


The Bala Road show Begins...

P.I Bala, the private investigator who was hired by Razak Baginda to keep an eye on Altantuya has re-emerged. After disappearing for the best part of 4 years, his re-emergence is being greeted by the opposition enthusiastically and unsurprisingly, the BN end is trying its best to cast aspersions on his character.

The issue at hand has to be what PI Bala is about to say at Opposition ceramahs to be held up and down the country. He is expected to confess that Razak Baginda mentioned that Altantuya had been romantically linked to Najib before "being passed to him."

I don't want to go too much into what Bala says. Needless to say, everybody has heard about it.

What I do want to state is something that I had stated way back in December when the Deepak issue blew up. It is a simple fact that the Altantuya issue will intensify in the lead up to the General Election and unless UMNO gets rid of Najib, UMNO too will have to face the virus.

In terms of political damage, it seems that the Bala - Deepak issue is beginning to have an effect on the voters. After all, Najib's popularity rating fell a whopping 2% to its lowest on record as people begin to digest the serious allegations made against the Prime Minister. This was even after the BRIM handouts were being processed which indicates that BRIM has not had effect on the voters.

As a diversion, there is an economic reason why BRIM does not have an effect on the voters. Number one, it was expected so it was discounted. Number two, people had to work hard for it. They had to queue to fill in an application form and queue even longer to receive the cash. Number three, people know its all about buying their votes using public money.

BN is now getting hammered on all sides and from all angles.

We first start with the newest weapon to use against BN which is Project M. Dr Mahathir is now being directly accused of masterminding the entire plot. Contrary to what pro UMNO bloggers would have us believe, Tuns pathetic attempt to attack Tengku cut no ice with the voting public and over 9 in 10 people are deeply unhappy with BN for compromising national security in the name of political power. 


 

What's worse is that the allegations are coming at a time when he have been invaded by the same people whom were the beneficiaries of Project M. Its now almost a month in where our sovereignty is being trampled by the armed forces of the all powerful Sultanate of Sulu.   This really has opened the eyes of not only Sabahans, but Malaysians throughout the country on how low BN leaders will stoop to in order to seize power. The only thing to wait is the sound of BN controlled state and parliament seats falling like dominos on account of this.

The second is "Calon Winnable." Up and down the country, UMNO election rooms are on go slow mode as the people do not know who the eventual calon will be. To understand this we must first understand how UMNO organizes itself to face an election. The Division chief will assign an UMNO cawangan to each Peti Undi (Electoral Box). This grassroots movement will then be mobilized to beg for votes and campaign in fierce door to door fighting.

The good news here is that the Ketua Bahagian himself does not know who the calon is going to be. If it was him, all well and good - but right now there is the possibility that new people will be parachuted into his territory. This is nothing short of a personal insult to his "power" and will be met with stiff resistance in the form of boycotts and sabotage.

Deepak and Bala will be third issue. Already Najib is now known as an extremely weak leader who is increasingly willing to do almost anything to get support. The oppositions skilful attack on the "Are You Ready for Psy" issue caused a massive uproar within UMNO who are getting increasingly impatient with Najib's constant shifting. Deepak and Bala will form the dynamic duo who will act as the "opening act" in the Opposition ceramahs.

Bala's message has the necessary elements that will surely cause the Makciks and Pakciks to gasp in shock. All that is required is a calm point by point delivery, whom I am confident that either Deepak or Bala can deliver in a typically forthright manner.

After all, wasn't it not so long ago that a similar tactic was employed by UMNO through Saiful to bury Anwar Ibrahim. That my friend is the sweet irony in this business. - Sir Wenger Khairy@pirates-of-putrajaya.blogspot


PI Bala: Razak Baginda regretted refusing Altantuya US$500,000 commission

Rafizi Ramli (Strategic Director of PKR) vs Gan Ping Sieu (Vice President of MCA)
tonight 7.30pm,Corus Hotel, Jemput Hadir