Lawyer Puravalen to give police statement in PI Bala case

Puravalen (left) with Oh, Ambiga (second from right) and Sulaiman (right) outside the Commercial Crimes Department

PI's controversial SDs: Police record statement from lawyer Puravelan
Lawyer refuses to divulge info to cops

KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 – Lawyer M. Puravalen, who was Abdul Razak Baginda's first lawyer in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case two years ago, has refused to divulge to the police today the details of "privileged information" shared with him by his client.

The 54-year-old lawyer said such information when made in full confidentiality was a fundamental and sacrosanct aspect of the lawyer-client relationship.

"It enables the lawyer to defend his client fully. If this basis is eroded, then there is no basis for the criminal justice system," said the former KL Bar chief to reporters after he was questioned by the police for an hour this morning at the Commercial Crimes Department in Jalan Dato Onn here.

Puravalen said the police had asked him "certain questions on my professional relationship with my client" but he declined to comment on the exact nature of the questions.

He was accompanied by his counsel Akbar Hussain, Stanley Sinnapen and Oh Choong Ghee , his partner in his law firm, Sulaiman Abdullah and Bar Council president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan.

Ambiga told reporters that such action by the police was tantamount to "an act of intimidation and an interference of the whole criminal justice system if the lawyer cannot act to defend his client".

She added that the Bar Council had sent a letter to the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan this morning to protest the police actions and expressed her hope that they would cease to subject lawyers to such harassment.

Puravalen is the third lawyer to have been summoned by the police in the span of one week for questioning in relation to private investigator P. Balasubramaniam's two contradictory statutory declarations (SD) on the murder case.

He said he had been served a notice yesterday afternoon to meet the police at 10am to have his statement recorded.

Americk Singh Sidhu, the lawyer who prepared Balasubramaniam's first SD, was the first to be questioned last Friday, followed by N. Surendran, lawyer to R. Kumaresan, nephew to the missing detective, last Saturday.

Surendran, who was also present today, told reporters that police had kept him for one-and-a-half hours.

"They asked me where Bala was. But they already know (the answer). So they want to know what we know. And why is that? I can only conclude that they have something to hide."

source: The Malaysian Insider

PI's controversial SDs: Police record statement from lawyer Puravelan
KUALA LUMPUR (July 18, 2008): Lawyer M. Puravelan, who first represented political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial, was today called to Bukit Aman.

police headquarters in connection with the controversial statutory declarations made by private investigator P. Balasubramaniam earlier this month.

Accompanied by Bar Council chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and lawyers Sulaiman Abdullah, Stanley Sellapan and Akhbar Hassan, Puravelan who arrived at 10am spent an hour having his statement recorded by the Commercial Crimes Investigation Department.

Puravelan who was hired in 2006 following Abdul Razak's arrest in connection with the Mongolian's murder, alongside prominent lawyer Datuk Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, had his statement.

Both lawyers were believed to have been discharged and were replaced by Wong Khian Kheong.

Puravelan was also a lawyer for Parti Keadilan Rakyat adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the VK Lingam tape scandal.

He had recently represented N. Surendran, the lawyer for Balasubramaniam's nephew R. Kumaresan.

On July 12, Surendran was summoned to have his statements recorded at the same police department.

Surendran later expressed his disappointment as it 'violated legal ethics' and was 'improper procedure and abuse of the investigative process'.

It is learnt that the questioning of Puravelan and Surendran is part of police investigations into the private investigator's claim in his first Statutory Declaration (SD) on July 3 that Abdul Razak had told him that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak had known Altantuya and was intimate with her.

Less than 24 hours after making a shocking revelation in the SD, Balasubramaniam retracted the part implicating Najib with the Mongolian, and issued a second SD before going into hiding overseas with his wife and three children.

Police recorded Surendran's statement in regards to Balasubramaniam disappearance, as well as the PI's two statutory declarations, under Section 111 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

source: The Sun
18/07/08