Bala told all six months ago: Nephews

KUALA LUMPUR (July 7, 2008) : The nephews of missing private investigator P. Balasubramaniam claimed today that their uncle had revealed to them months earlier all the details he had stated in his first statutory declaration (SD) which alleged that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had links with murdered Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Brothers R.Kumaresan, 27, and Segar, 24, of Batu Caves said their uncle had shared with them about what he had mentioned in his first SD about six months earlier, and they believed he would one day make it public.

Kumaresan, an information technology (IT) professional said his uncle had expressed relief after he made his first statuatory declaration public on Thursday but what he did the next day by denying it had shocked the siblings.

Balasubramaniam who had made public his first SD on Thursday based on what political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda -- one of the accused in the Alatantuya murder case -- had told him, on Friday retracted his allegations via a second SD, claiming his first SD had been made under duress.

The brothers spoke to reporters at the Gombak district police headquarters with their lawyer R.Surendran yesterday after giving a statement to investigators over a police report he lodged on the disappearance of his uncle, aunt and three cousins on Saturday.

"He claimed he made the first SD under duress, but from the expression on his face on that day, it was clear that he was not, everyone could see that," said Kumaresan.

"But when he retracted the SD and replaced it with another the next day, the expression on his face showed that he was really under duress. Compare his face on the first day with the second day.

"We are very close to our uncle and know him very well. There is no way he would have disappeared like this without informing us first." he said adding that his family strongly believe Balasubramaniam and his family had not gone into hiding but are being detained at an unknown location.

Kumaresan said had his uncle planned to go into hiding or feared for his safety, he would have done so on the very first day, after making the first statuatory declaration.

"But everything was normal after he made the statement on Thursday; and then Friday he goes missing with his family." he said.

Kumaresan said he also had no idea of who M Arulampalam, the lawyer who accompanied his uncle when he made the second SD is.
"We are worried about their safety. My aunt is a like mother-figure to me. I do not even know if they are still alive." he said.

Segar, an engineer said his uncle had also handed him an envelope two days before he made his first SD and told him to pass it to Kumaresan.

"He told me to tell Kumarasen to open it two days later but after he made public his first SD, we opened it and found that it was a copy of the SD," he said.

Meanwhile lawyer R.Surendran said the main concern of Kumaresan and Segar was the safety of his uncle and his family and not the statutory declarations he had made.

"I hope the police will look more into the angle that Balasubramaniam may be held against his will, as it does not seem that he has gone into hiding." he added.

Charles Ramendran
The Sun
08/07/08