Charles Ramendran
The Sun


FURTHER READING: Seapark Police Station Report No: 8602 / 07

The brother of lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam lodged a police report today detailing a litany of events, from threats and blackmail to coercions, he went through in 1998 when the Anti Corruption Agency (ACA) was investigating the prominent lawyer.

V. Thirunama Karasu, accompanied by his lawyer Wee Choo Keong, who is Malaysian Democratic Party secretary-general, made a five-page report in the Brickfields police station against his brother.

He said he was forced to give false statements and feigned insanity in order to nullify his earlier statements to ACA investigating officers.

Wee said the outcome of the ACA investigations against Lingam should not be accepted as it was a decision made by then (now deceased) Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah who was also implicated.

"I cannot believe how the late A-G could give instructions to close the case or otherwise. There should have been an independant person or a body to decide on the fate of the probe. The current A-G Tan Sri Gani Patail should look into all this when examining this case," said Wee.

He said Thirunama had mentioned the close ties Lingam and Mohtar shared in his report, claiming that Lingam made regular late-night visits to Mohtar's house.

Wee also said he had written to University Malaya Medical Centre and the Kuala Lumpur Hospital to explain how Thirunama's medical records ended up with Lingam.

Last week, Lingam handed to reporters in Putrajaya copies of a medical report from a pyschiatrist from a private clinic alleging that Thirunama was a mental patient.

"We will also complain to the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) on this breach of patient-doctor confidentiality," he said.

Thirunama said in his report that his visits to several psychiatrists were due to coercion. He also mentioned details of how he was held for days in a room in Armada Hotel where three lawyers, two of them Datuks, interrogated him day and night demanding details of his statement to the ACA.

"I was threatened with harm when I refused. I was also held by the ACA for five days in a police lock-up after I told them I had given them a false statement when in fact it was true."