Lawyer-activist Haris Ibrahim said the senior lawyer allegedly involved in drafting the SD had committed “the gravest of sins”.
PETALING
JAYA: A senior lawyer is the latest “player” allegedly involved in the
drafting of the second statutory declaration (SD2) by private
investigator P Balasubramaniam.
And the Bar Council has been urged to investigate the role of this lawyer.
The lawyer, who apparently holds the title of “Tan Sri”, and his son
were recently revealed by businessman Deepak Jaikishan in an interview
to have been allegedly responsible for the preparation of documents for
Balasubramaniam before he signed the “SD2″.
The “SD2″ had reversed an earlier one which implicated Prime Minister
Najib Tun Razak in the murder of Mongolioan national Altantuya
Shaarribuu.
In an official letter sent to the Bar Council secretary Tony Woon
yesterday, lawyer-activist Haris Ibrahim asked that the bar to launch an
investigation to identify the solicitor (s) concerned and to “ascertain
if there was any impropriety in the preparation of SD2”.
Speaking to FMT before sending the letter, Haris said that he hopes
the Bar Council would be as vigorous as it was when the VK Linggam
scandal broke in 2007, as the latest revelations are “serious” if it was
indeed true that the lawyer had not consulted Balasubramaniam before
drafting the SD.
“It points at a very senior member of the bar potentially involved in
a dishonest act. I think every member of the Bar should go up in arms
and be very concerned.”
“Any practitioner worth his salt knows that when drafting an SD or
affidavit one has to seek instruction from his client. Was the person
aware of the purpose and objective of this SD? It could mean that the
lawyer was privy to a conspiracy to subvert the course of justice,
subvert the disclosure of truth. Officers of the court are to aid in the
truth, not suppressing it,” he said.
“I’m very sure that the nature of this impropriety could amount to
the lawyer being struck off the roll… he obviously is a dishonest
practitioner,” he added.
In a blog post yesterday, Haris said the senior lawyer had committed
“the gravest of sins” and threatened that if the Bar Council does not
properly probe the matter, he would reveal the name of the “scumbag” in
two weeks and allow the matter to be taken up in court.
Motive never established
On July, 3, 2008, Balasubramaniam emerged with a SD which linked
Najib to Altantuya’s 2006 murder. However, the private investigator
reversed his first SD via a second SD the next day in the presence of
lawyer M Arunampalam. He then disappeared.
On Oct 27, 2009, Balasubramaniam came out of hiding and reaffirmed
that his first statutory declaration was true. He claimed he was offered
RM5 million to retract it by Deepak together with Najib’s brother
Nazim.
In the past few weeks, Deepak has claimed, among other things, that
Rosmah was the person who instructed him to seek out Balasubramaniam to
change his SD.
In confirming his role in the second SD, Deepak claimed he met Najib
and Rosmah at their residence to discuss the second statutory
declaration and that Nazim was sent to negotiate with Balasubramaniam.
Deepak also claimed that Najib had chosen the “Tan Sri laywer and his
son” to prepare the SD before Balasubramaniam was told to sign it. He
also said that Arulampalam was not involved in the making of the second
SD.
Attempts by FMT to contact the “Tan Sri lawyer” have been unsuccessful.
Altantuya was shot and murdered in October 2006, with her remains destroyed by C-4 explosives.
Her alleged lover and political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, a close
friend of Najib, was charged with the murder with two other policemen.
Abdul Razak was acquitted while the policemen were convicted, though the motive was never established.
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