Americk Sidhu said the MACC’s excuse for cancelling the London meeting had no legal basis.
“The recording of a witnesses statement can take place anywhere in the world as this statement forms part of the investigations conducted by the MACC for the purposes of a potential prosecution and is not intended to be used as evidence in a court of law,” said Americk in a statement.
“Let me add that whatever advice the MACC may have received from the Attorney General’s Chambers is highly suspect and devoid of any legal basis, but instead smacks of a hastily assembled concoction of very weak excuses designed to avoid a potentially embarrassing situation for those who are obviously in control,” he added.
Earlier today MACC Deputy Chief Commissioner Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull said they were advised by the Attorney-General’s Chambers against interviewing the private investigator in London.
MACC officers were scheduled to interview him over his claims of a conspiracy in the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu in London between July 5 and July 7.
MACC Legal Director Datuk Abdul Razak Musa said the validity of Balasubramaniam’s statement would not be recognised by local courts if it was recorded overseas.
He said the precedent was set in the case of Tan Sri Eric Chia, where a statement recorded overseas was not accepted.
“If this were the case, then the statement recorded from Saiful in the ongoing Sodomy II trial of Anwar Ibrahim would have been willingly tendered by the prosecution as part of their case instead of being guarded jealously and hidden from view,” said Americk.
“So this is really no excuse for not recording a statement from Bala. It would never be tendered in court unless it is used to discredit the oral evidence of a witness if that evidence contradicts a previously recorded statement. This process is called impeachment,” he said.
Americk also dismissed the need for Balasubramaniam to respond via an affidavit.
“If the MACC requires signed depositions from Bala to wrap up their investigations, may I suggest they consult the documents available all over cyberspace in the form of Bala’s 1st SD released in July 2008 and the 3 parts of his Q&A released in November 2009,” said Americk.
Balasubramaniam had linked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to Altantuya in a statutory declaration made on October 27 2008.
But he retracted his claims via another sworn declaration the next day before leaving the country.
Najib has denied knowing Altantuya, who was murdered four years ago.
In October last year, Balasubramaniam emerged from hiding to claim that his first declaration was true and that he was offered RM5million to retract his statement.
