Saturday, January 16, 2010

Malaysian Probe Into Murder Cover-up Bribery May Fail Without PI witness

By Manirajan Ramasamy

Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said its probe into bribery accusations surrounding the murder of a Mongolian woman will fail unless it can contact the private investigator at the center of the allegations, who has been missing since 2008.

P. Balasubramaniam disappeared after holding a press conference in July 2008 to retract his allegation made a day earlier that Prime Minister Najib Razak had an affair with the victim. Najib, who was deputy premier at the time, said he had never met the woman and has denied any wrongdoing.

“Without him coming forward, we can’t continue the investigation,” Chief Commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today. “We are willing to meet him anywhere, even overseas, without any conditions. We need him to get in touch with us.”

The anti-corruption unit is probing allegations that bribes were paid to cover up the murder case, which was tried separately. The commission opened its probe after opposition politicians filed a report.

Two of Najib’s former police guards were sentenced to death in April for the 2006 murder of the Mongolian woman, Altantuya Shaariibuu, a lover of Najib’s former adviser, Abdul Razak Baginda. Abdul Razak was acquitted in 2008 of abetting the killing.

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