Has Malaysia's Special Branch demonstrated how easy it is to get past "world's best intelligence service" and its Bahasa literate chief Bapak Duncan Lewis

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Readers are reminded that the main beneficiary of all this money spoken of by
Americk Sidhu,a highly regarded member of the  Malaysian Bar is a Malaysian
 police commando held in the highest security section of Villawood:


You (Sirul Azhar) were about to (prepare a statement in support
of a protection visa) until a hurriedly gathered posse of advisors
from Malaysia descended on Villawood to persuade you otherwise.
I am reliably advised that amongst this posse were three
Special Branch officers from Bukit Aman(Malaysian Police HQ).
They were in contact with a “Datuk”
(believed to be one Ganasan Narianasamy,a
former employee of the Supreme Court NSW Registry)
in Sydney who was then entrusted with the task of looking after
your financial affairs and those of your son
(who is still in Australia),and to identify a AU$1 million property
into which you would move once your visa was granted, all to be financed
by a certain party.

Readers can decide for themselves how much easier or more difficult
it might be to finance an operation of persons who are not detained.
Of course, Brandis , Pak Duncan and co can now declare the whole Sirul
affair a "Special Intelligence Operation" and threaten anyone who writes
about their stupidity with jail terms and fines.

Another Rosie Lewis PR piece defending Duncan Lewis is not likely to do the trick,
so thank goodness for these new SIO provisions which will save them from
"reckless journalists"!


END

Permit me to pre-empt your 'expose', Sirul
7
Americk Sidhu Published Today 12:47 pm 

 Updated Today 1:40 pm 48 comments

COMMENT
Sirul Azhar Umar has indicated his intention to ‘expose’
the names of five personalities who have attempted
to “bribe or coax” him into implicating
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, in the murder of
Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.
This anticipated revelation is to manifest in Part 4 of a series of audio-visual presentations produced and directed from an Australian detention centre situated at Villawood, New South Wales and scheduled for release in the next few days.

Permit me to take the wind out of your sails, Sirul, by guessing the names of these individuals. They are most likely none other than Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar (accompanying your mother), ex-Umno division leader Khairuddin Abu Hassan, Sarawak Report founder and editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and your migration consultant, Robert Chelliah.

Before I proceed further, let me say I find it incredibly incongruous for a convicted cold-blooded murderer - who has never denied shooting a poor defenceless young lady in the head twice, and blowing her body up with military grade explosives - to sit piously before a camera in a religious white skull cap and offer to the world at large, unsolicited narratives on your present position and your advice surrounding this murder.

First, let’s put the situation into perspective. You are not a celebrity. You have been captured by the Australian Immigration Authorities and incarcerated because you are a convicted criminal.

The Australians have, however, very kindly placed at your disposal the means by which you may challenge your detention under the provisions of the Australian Migration Act 1958 and the Regulations made thereunder.

You have taken advantage of these facilities by lodging with the Migration Authorities what may be described as a ‘Protection Visa’ sub-class 866. If you succeed in your application, you will be allowed to remain in Australia as a free man with permanent resident status.

You have been advised by your Australian lawyers and migration consultant that anyone applying for such a protection visa must undergo a process of character clearance under Section 501 of the Migration Act. The relevant minister must be convinced that it is safe for a person with a criminal conviction to be released into the community.

This entails the visa applicant being honest and truthful in his application. It behoves the applicant to describe in detail under what circumstances and conditions he committed the criminal offence for which he had been convicted - i.e. to attempt to reduce the gravity of the crime by way of “mea culpa”.

Extenuating circumstances

In other words, you will have to convince the minister that you are not inherently a criminal by nature, but were forced - by extenuating circumstances - to commit the offence; for example, in the course of your duties as ordered, which may have been the cause of your error of judgment at the time of committing that offence. You will also have to show genuine remorse and regret.

As you have yet to comply with any of the above criteria, your application for this visa looks as if it is doomed from the start, despite what you may have been told to the contrary.

Sirul, you have gone on record publically, at least twice, by making statements implying that you were ordered to commit this murder.

The first occasion was during your trial at the Shah Alam High Court where you read out a lengthy statement from the dock after your defence was called. In this statement you categorically described yourself as a scapegoat used to protect those who were not in court.

The second occasion was when you gave an interview with Malaysiakini on Feb 17, 2015 in which you also categorically stated you were under orders to kill Altantuya, and that “those with motive for the murder are still free.”

You have not retracted these statements.

Your Malaysian lawyers also confirmed on Dec 31, 2015 that you had applied for a ‘protection visa’ with the Australian authorities and if this was granted, you would be released from detention and would be free to be at large in Australia - but that the biggest stumbling block to obtaining this visa was your conviction.

Bearing in mind the criteria set in place for a visa of this nature to be granted in your circumstances (being a convicted killer), the only hope you would have is to come clean and explain why you committed this murder and under whose instructions.

Your Australian lawyers and your migration consultant have already informed you of this and have advised you to reveal the person or persons who gave you those orders, so as to assist your application for an 866 Visa.

You were about to do this until a hurriedly gathered posse of advisors from Malaysia (whose identities are available), descended on Villawood to persuade you otherwise.

A little concerned

I am reliably advised that amongst this posse were three Special Branch officers from Bukit Aman.

They were in contact with a “Datuk” in Sydney who was then entrusted with the task of looking after your financial affairs and those of your son (who is still in Australia), and to identify a AU$1 million property into which you would move once your visa was granted, all to be financed by a certain party.

Your solicitor, Christopher Livingstone, barrister Matthew Golan, and migration consultant Robert Chelliah, were a little concerned that your application for the 866 Visa would stand little chance of success unless extenuating circumstances for the murder were put forth.

You appear to have ignored this advice and instead were persuaded to partake in what can only be described as a very feeble attempt to extricate yourself from your very own committed admissions of unseen hands directing the extermination of a Mongolian irritant.

You now intend to come out with the final (presumably) audio-visual presentation releasing the identities of those you accuse of trying to bribe or coax you into revealing the personality involved in issuing you with those orders to kill. One of these individuals might even be your own mother.

Let us focus on the word ‘bribe’. This would inevitably involve an exchange of currency - in one form or another - in return for a favour. I sincerely hope you disclose the precise sums offered to you by the persons you intend on fingering, because this will inevitably raise further questions in relation to the funding you have received over the past 10 years and from whom these funds came.

You previously engaged the services of two very prominent and capable criminal lawyers, Kamarul Hisham and Hasnal Rezua Merican. These barristers spent a total of 165 days in the Shah Alam High Court defending the charge brought against you. These lawyers then handled your appeal to the Court of Appeal and defended the prosecutor’s appeal to the Federal Court.

Throughout this period you were an out-of-work former police corporal, languishing in the Sungai Buloh penitentiary with no access to funds. Your lawyers could not have survived without payment, which would have been substantial for the amount of work involved. How did you manage to pay them?

Who funded your travel to Australia? Who is funding payment of the fees charged by your solicitor, barrister and migration consultant in Australia? Who is paying for your son’s education and living expenses in Australia?

Who funded Sirul?

And who is paying for the continued services of your Malaysian legal team for the work they are doing for you in Australia, and all their travel and accommodation expenses for the numerous trips they have made to Villawood? And who is paying your ‘Datuk butler’ in Sydney for looking after all your needs?

I am sure these are some of the questions every right-thinking Malaysian is asking.

In the last audio-visual presentation you made available to the press, you had taken pains to point out that Najib was not involved in the murder you committed. You said it was a big sin for you to slander a person, that Najib was never involved and that he had no links to the case.

One wonders why you found it necessary to make this statement? I am unable to identify one single person who has gone on record directly accusing Najib of involvement in Altantuya’s murder.

Bearing in mind the fact that you, yourself, have gone on record unequivocally insinuating you were made to commit this murder - presumably against your will - and that someone ordered you to do so, this begs the question why, out of 30 million Malaysians, you have chosen to exonerate only one man?

Your attempted protection of Najib has only succeeded in opening a Pandora’s Box of suspicions where none may have existed.

Considering the entire circumstances, and specifically acknowledging the fact that you have said you had absolutely no personal motive to kill Altantuya, anyone with a modicum of intelligence would have to conclude that you have been persuaded to refrain from revealing the identity of the person who ordered you to commit this murder with misguided promises of financial security in return.

These promises could only have come from one man, who obviously wields great clout and who appears to have access to vast sums. Who is this man Sirul?

Simply put, you are in a right pickle, mate. If you don’t tell the Australian Immigration authorities why you did this to Altantuya, you will not get your visa. And without your visa, you will remain in detention forever because the Australians won’t allow you to be extradited back to Malaysia as you face the death penalty there, and they don’t agree with it.

My guess is this impasse will be solved once your death sentence is commuted to one of life imprisonment, or you are granted a pardon. Only then will an application for extradition succeed and the Australians will quite happily hand you over to the Malaysian police. Who knows, perhaps someday you will be known as ‘Datuk Sirul Azhar Umar’ even?

Others have been awarded honorific titles for much less, after all. - M'kin


Read more: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/330295#ixzz4093LHM2Z