Lawyer Americk Singh Sidhu today denied that private investigator P Balasubramaniam affirmed his first sworn statement under duress.

"There is absolutely no way that he did it unwillingly. You must understand Bala was the one who brought up the subject. Nobody planted any information," said Americk.

americk siva pc 040708 01 Speaking to reporters at the PKR headquarters in Tropicana, Petaling Jaya today, Americk ( photo: left ) said he had first met Balasubramaniam at a restaurant two months ago.

Since then, Balasubramaniam had met Americk on several occasions with the express intention of making a statutory declaration on matters concerning the Altantuya murder trial.

"Bala came to my office and began talking to me about what transpired when he was hired as a private investigator for Abdul Razak Baginda. As he was talking, he had a laptop (computer) in front of him.

"I'm not sure what he was referring to. As he was doing that, I was taking down in long hand what he was saying. This occurred on two or three occasions (and each session lasted) for several hours," he said.

Eventually, Balasubramaniam affirmed the statutory declaration before commissioner for oaths Dr T Yokheswarem on July 1 in Americk's presence.

"The contents of this statutory declaration were read in front of the commissioner of oaths who enquired from Mr Bala whether he understood the contents and whether that was his declaration.

"After Mr Bala confirmed the same, he was asked to sign three copies and the commissioner attested each copy [...]

"I am therefore extremely surprised that Mr Bala, in the space of 24 hours, has engaged the services of another lawyer and affirmed another statutory declaration swearing the first one was untrue and that he was forced to sign it," he said.

Bala went to see cop

Earlier today, Balasubramaniam made a new statutory declaration to retract portions of his sworn statement on July 1 which stunningly implicated Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak with the murdered Altantuya Shaariibuu.

p balasubramaniam private investigator altantuya murder case 040708 03 Balarubramaniam had said that he had made the July 1 statutory declaration under duress. He did not reveal as to who forced him to sign that statement.

In place of that sworn statement, Balasubramaniam today released a new statutory declaration which removed all mention of Najib in it.

The new statutory declaration was revealed to a handful of journalist during a hastily arranged press conference in a hotel in Kuala Lumpur this morning. Balasubramaniam was in the company of a new lawyer M Arulampalam.

Americk said that he has not been in contact with Balasubramaniam since yesterday when the latter was at his office, speaking to a police officer over the telephone.

"He called ASP Tony and spoke to him in front of me. It was quiet a lively conversation. In typical Malaysian fashion, food was an issue here and I think fish head curry was discussed.

"When Bala left my office at 4.45pm, I was under the impression that he was going to see ASP Tony. So I didn't think anything of it, until I receive a call from the media this morning, asking me about (Bala's) press conference this morning," he said.

Asked if he would be worried about Balasubramaniam meeting the police since the latter had expressed safety concerns yesterday, Americk retorted: "He was going to see the police. How more safe can he be?".

Asked on why Balasubramaniam chose to reveal the matter through PKR yesterday, Americk said it was not his sole decision and felt that it was the appropriate forum to do so.

"I wish to categorically state now that I am not a member of PKR at all. Neither am I a member of Barisan nor MIC. I'm totally apolitical. I am only concerned with what is right."

Watch 10-min video of press conference

Read Americk's press statement here

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