PI Disappeared...

Now Mr Bala aka the PI disappeared. So is it really, that threats of one's life do exists? What about the notion of beautiful and harmonious Malaysia where threats of one's life is not our culture said our DPM and PM recently. Why Mr PI disappeared suddenly?

The first Statutory Declaration as according to his former lawyer, Mr Americk Sidhu was made when he is in his right frame of mind. As stated in one news report that he believed the private eye had been coerced “by either threats or promises as I can think of no other reason” and that it was voluntarily made without duress and it was written over a a period of one and a half months in several meetings with Balasubramaniam, each lasting hours...as according to Mr Americk Sidhu.

Then come the second SD which not only shocked Americk Sidhu but I believe a right minded Malaysian that within 24 hours his client had engaged the services of another lawyer and made another statutory declaration, swearing that the first one was untrue and that he had been forced to sign it.

Mr Sidhu also said as reported in the news report, “As I am familiar with Mr Bala's character, having spent hours recording his statement, I am very sceptical that he signed the second statutory declaration on his own free will."

So can one perceived that the second SD is tainted with some form of illegality and undue influence by some irresponsible third party.

A statutory declaration is evidence given under oath which cannot be retracted. It is liken to facts stated in court under oath and if that declaration is found to be false then the person making the said declaration can be charged in court for perjury. Just saying that the first SD declared was under duress is not enough. There must be compelling evidence to suggest that there is some form of duress and undue influence.

The new SD withdrew all statements that Balasubramaniam had revealed during a press conference organised by PKR de facto leader DSAI on Thursday and this included the fact that he had informed police what political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda had purportedly told him prior to Altantuya’s murder.

So where do we go from here? Or rather where is Mr Bala now.....

PI Bala’s nephew lodges missing person’s report (Reported in the Star)

KUALA LUMPUR: R. Kumaresan, nephew of private investigator P. Balasubramaniam, lodged a police report in Brickfields here on Saturday over the disappearance of his uncle, aunt and their three children.

Kumaresan said it was unusual for calls to his uncle to go unanswered. He added that Balasubramaniam and his family had been in communicado after the private investigator made a new statutory declaration, retracting his original statutory declaration on Friday.

In the first statutory declaration, Balasubramaniam had claimed that police omitted vital information, allegedly linking Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case.

On Friday, Balasubramaniam revealed in a second statutory declaration that he was “compelled to affirm the (first) statutory declaration dated July 1, 2008 under duress”.