The blogger's allegations concerning the PKR MP and PI Bala draws flak from R Sivarasa, who calls it a smear campaign.
K Pragalath, FMT
Subang MP R Sivarasa has denied the allegation that he and lawyer M Puravalen were in cohorts with private investigator P Balasubramaniam.
The PKR leader dismissed the allegation by Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamarudin, popularly known as RPK, as a “malicious fiction”.
“This is a malicious fiction created by RPK to smear me, Puravalen and Bala.
“It is false that Bala knew Sirul Azhar Umar and Azilah Hadri [the two policemen found guilty of the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu] and that fact was made known to me and Puravalen,” he said.
On Aug 10, Raja Petra had claimed that he met Balasubramaniam for the first time on July 2, 2008.
Raja Petra wrote: “In the presence of Sivarasa and Puravalen, Bala and his ex-police officer friend boasted how they used to bump off criminals and got rid of their bodies.
“Azilah, Sirul and we were all in the same team,” they laughed.
Sivarasa said Balasubramaniam would have been charged with Azilah and Sirul Azhar if the private investigator had known them.
“In fact the police remanded Bala for about two weeks after the murder of Altantuya under Section 302 for murder investigation. He was released without being charged,” he added.
He further explained that Raja Petra was invited to the meeting to be given a preview of Balasubramaniam’s first statutory declaration “to be put up on his blog and write about it”.
Sivarasa also denied the allegation that he had coached Balasubramaniam at an Italian restaurant after the meeting.
“This is the mixture of truth and fiction.
“What he does not mention is that we simply went to the restaurant because Puravalen had a pre-arranged dinner commitment there with some other friends.
“We did not go there purely to discuss the press conference. In fact Bala was quite open about his SD and mentioned the contents to the others present,” he said.
Sivarasa claimed that Raja Petra omitted the presence of Bala’s lawyer Americk Sidhu who prepared the private investigator’s first statutory declaration.
“It is quite far-fetched to suggest a scenario where I am coaching Bala in front of his own lawyer and people I had just met for the first time,” he said.
‘RPK arranged for funding’
He also denied Raja Petra’s allegation that he (Sivarasa) asked Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim to arrange for a Chinese tycoon to pay Balasubramaniam RM20,000 per month when the private investigator was in India.
“No one including myself offered or gave Bala any financial inducement to make the first statutory declaration,” said Sivarasa, who added that according to Americk it was Raja Petra who organised some financial aid for Balasubramaniam after uploading interviews that the private investigator did with him in Singapore in November 2009.
