By KULDEEP S. JESSY and STEVEN DANIEL, The Star
Sunday July 6, 2008
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Today news portal editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin was quizzed by police over his June 18 statutory declaration in which he stated that three other persons were present when the body of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu was blown up on Oct 19, 2006.
He was summoned to the Sentul police station at 5pm yesterday. He was accompanied by his wife Marina Lee Abdullah and his lawyer William Leong, who is the Selayang MP. Also present was Selangor executive councillor Ronnie Liu.
Batu MP Tian Chua arrived at about 7.30pm, 15 minutes before Raja Petra was allowed to leave.
In his statutory declaration, Raja Petra alleged to have knowledge that two lieutenant colonels and Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, wife of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, were present when Altantuya’s body was blown up. Rosmah has since denied the allegation.
Raja Petra told reporters that he was questioned under Section 112 of the Criminal Procedure Code as a witness in connection with the police report lodged against him by the Attorney-General’s Chambers on June 20.
“The entire interrogation or statement that was taken was more in relation to who my informer is and whether I gave permission to (Internet news portal) Malaysiakini to publish the statutory declaration.
“They also wanted to know about the blog site called bigdog.com,” he said.
Raja Petra claimed that when he told the police that he could not reveal the identity of his informer, he was told that there were other police reports made against him and the police might want to charge him in court.
“I told them that I am prepared and ready to be charged in court and my informer will surface during the trial and reveal the truth,??? he said.
Meanwhile, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, who lodged a police report alleging sodomy by PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, did not turn up at the Brickfields police station yesterday although talk was rife that he would show up.
Pressmen and photographers waited at the station as early as 8am but left dissappointed.