Merdeka 55 tahun - Janji Dicapati

WWW1: Utusan diperintah bayar gantirugi pada Nizar

Mahkamah Tinggi Sivil Kuala Lumpur hari ini memerintahkan Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd membayar gantirugi kepada bekas menteri besar Perak Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin atas saman yang difailkan ke atas penerbit akhbar tersebut pada Julai lalu.

Peguamnya Mohd Zamri Ibrahim berkata, keputusan interlocutari hari ini memerintahkan demikian memandangkan Utusan tidak diwakili peguam untuk pendengaran kes tersebut.

Sehubungan itu, pendaftar mahkamah Mazuliana Abdul Rashid memerintahkan Mohammad Nizar memfailkan taksiran bagi ganti rugi berkenaan untuk tuntutan daripada Utusan, katanya.
"Kita kena kemuka taksiran kerana saman ini kita tak tentukan berapa yang kita hendak," katanya ketika dihubungi.
Difahamkan, Utusan tidak lagi berhak untuk merayu keputusan tersebut namun masih berpeluang untuk mengenepikan keputusan hari ini yang dibuat tanpa kehadirannya itu. 
Mohammad Nizar pula ketika dihubungi berkata, ketidakhadiran peguam Utusan hari ini menunjukkan akhbar tersebut tidak dapat membela laporan yang didakwa memfitnahnya itu.

"Mereka tak hantar peguam, melambangkan mereka tak boleh bela diri mereka," katanya lagi.
Mohammad Nizar mendakwa, Utusan pada 31 Mei menerbitkan menerbitkan pernyataan fitnah berhubung kenyataannya berhubung pembelian nombor plat kenderaan WWW 1 oleh Sultan Johor.
Mohammad Nizar mendakwa pernyataan fitnah itu antara lain membawa maksud bahawa beliau adalah seorang penderhaka kepada sultan amnya, dan Sultan Johor khususnya, beliau adalah ahli politik yang anti-sultan dan seorang ahli politik yang cuba menghasut rakyat untuk membenci Sultan Johor.
Sementara itu, satu lagi saman Mohammad Nizar berhubung kes serupa ke atas stesen penyiaran Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad (TV3) akan diputuskan pada 19 September, kata seorang lagi peguamnya, Mohd Fitri Asmuni.
"TV3 baru kemuka pembelaan. Jadi kita beri jawapan dan pada masa sama, mahkamah minta TV3 cadang penyelesaian (dengan Mohamad Nizar)," katanya ketika dihubungi.
Jelasnya, TV3 mengemukakan pembelaan pada 22 Ogos lalu untuk kes yang didengar di hadapan hakim Datin Yeoh Wee Sian itu.
ADUN Pasir Panjang itu mendakwa TV3 pada 30 Mei lalu mengeluarkan berita melalui rancangan Buletin Utama pukul 8 malam, berhubung satu kenyataannya di Twitter.

source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/207495

Bos Utusan akui laporan 'memihak aspirasi parti'

Ketua pengarang Kumpulan Utusan Datuk Abdul Aziz Ishak mengakui bahawa akhbar milik Umno itu tidak menyiarkan laporan seimbang tetapi memihak kepada aspirasi parti pemerintah.
Abdul Aziz, 48 berkata sebagai akhbar nasional, Utusan akan melaporkan mengenai isu nasional.

Bagaimanapun, dalam melaporkan mengenai pembangkang, beliau tidak menyifatkannya sebagai laporan seimbang, tetapi memihak kepada aspirasi parti.

Abdul Aziz berkata demikian ketika ditanya peguam, N Surendran dalam perbicaraan kes saman ketua pembangkang Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim di Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur hari ini.
Surendran: Dalam memberi liputan isu politik, adakah anda setuju Utusan Malaysia tidak memberi liputan seimbang?

Abdul Aziz: Saya setuju, (laporan) memihak pada aspirasi pada parti pemerintah.

Terdahulu, Abdul Aziz mengakui bahawa Utusan sebahagian besarnya dimiliki Umno tetapi mendakwa parti itu tidak masuk campur dalam proses editorial.

Surendran bertanya sekiranya terdapat seorang wakil Umno dalam lembaga pengarah Utusanyang juga merupakan wakil perdana menteri.

Abdul Aziz mengakui dan berkata, individu dari Umno itu merupakan Tan Sri Hashim Ahmad Makaruddin.

source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/206247

Umno miliki 50 peratus pegangan dalam Utusan

Umno atau syarikat penamanya memiliki pegangan sebanyak 49.77 peratus dalam Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd, menurut laporan tahunannya.

Setiauasaha akhbar kepada perdana menteri Tengku Sharifuddin Tengku Ahmad juga antara pengarah Utusan Melayu, dedah Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim di Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur dalam samannya terhadap harian itu.

"Saya tahu perkara ini kerana Tengku Sharifuddin mewakili kerajaan menandatangani perjanjian dengan firma Apco di Washington. Beliau bukan ketua pengarah jabatan tetapi menandatanganinya bagi pihak kerajaan kerana menjadi setiausaha akhbar kepada PM.

"Pengerusi Utusan Hashim Ahmad Makinuddin dan pengarah Professor Firdaus Abdullah juga dikenali sebagai anggota Umno

"Oleh itu, mengapa melantik mereka jika Umno tidak mengawal Utusan? Tambahan pula kamu ada setiausaha akhbar PM juga sebagai pengarah," kata Anwar.

Anwar berkata, tidak perlu untuk sebuah entiti yang memiliki 51 peratus pegangan untuk mengawal syarikat kerana kepentingan 33 peratus sudah cukup untuk tujuan itu.

Dalam kes ini, katanya, Umno memiliki 49.77 peratus saham dalam Utusan Melayu.

source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/206211

MB: SYABAS akui tiada krisis air di S'gor

Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim berkata pegawai Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (SYABAS) mempersetujui bahawa Selangor tidak mengalami krisis air dengan rizab kritikal dua peratus seperti yang didakwa syarikat itu sebelum ini.

Dalam satu wawancara dengan Malaysiakini, Abdul Khalid berkata pegawai tersebut mempersetujui demikian dalam satu taklimat kepada satu jawatankuasa menyemak yang bari dibentuk kerajaan negeri.

Abdul Khalid berkata, laporan awal jawatankuasa itu menyatakan bahawa 35 loji rawatan air di Selangor berkapasiti untuk mengeluarkan 4,960 juta liter air sehari (MLD), lebih 14 peratus atau 598 MLD daripada bekalan SYABAS setiap hari.

"Ya (mereka bersetuju dengan jumlah tersebut). Mereka berada di dalam bilik dalam mesyuarat yang sama.

“Hanya dua orang yang tidak hadir (dalam mesyuarat) – orang yang kita bayar RM400,000 sebulan dan ketua pegawai eksekutif Ruslan Hassan. Semua profesional tertinggi hadir," katanya yang merujuk dengan sinis kepada pengerusi eksekutif SYABAS Tan Sri Rozali Ismail.
SYABAS pada Julai lalu mencadangkan catuan air dijalankan di beberapa kawasan di Selangor dan Kuala Lumpur dengan alasan rizab air di negeri itu berada di tahap kritikal.

Kerajaan Selangor kemudiannya mendakwa syarikat tersebut cuba "mencipta" krisis dan menggunakan kuasanya untuk mengambil alih pengurusan SYABAS.

Abdul Khalid bagaimanapun mengakui bahawa beberapa kawasan di Selangor berdepan dengan gangguan air – yang dikaitkannya dengan kelemahan SYABAS dalam kapsiti membekalkan air.

“Tempat seperti Cheras dan Petaling Jaya, disebabkan sifat bangunan tersebut, air terpaksa dipam tapi jika anda tidak mencapai kapasiti yang sangat tinggi maka akan berlaku kekurangan bekalan," katanya.

Tambahnya, perkara itu bermaksud paip lencongan diperlukan untuk membawa air tambahan ke kawasan berkenaan.

Abdul Khalid juga mengakui bahawa "krisis" tersebut menjejaskan kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat dari segi politik.

"Tentulah ia mempunyai sedikit impak apabila anda melihat seorang wanita tua terpaksa membawa sebaldi air yang menunjukkan bahawa kerajaan Selangor tidak sensitif kepada keperluan rakyat, tapi saya akan selesaikan bahagian itu," katanya.

source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/205556

PI Bala: They tried to bribe me... again

(Malaysiakini, 2nd August 2012) -- Private eye P Balasubramaniam has emerged from hiding to drop yet another bombshell - that there was a second attempt to bribe him when he was in exile in India, this time to smear PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Speaking to Malaysiakini in an interview in Kuala Lumpur last month, Balasubramaniam claimed that he was approached about a week before the Sarawak state election in April last year.

"You know these guys, they already got ‘good news' from Perth and they needed more ‘good news' from India," said Balasubramaniam cryptically, though he declined to elaborate further.

At the time, the campaign machineries of both sides of the political divide had been in high gear as every and all possible means were being used to woo voters in the crucial state election.

It was also around this time Raja Petra Kamarudin's interview with TV3, which was done during the controversial blogger's visit to Australia, hit the airwaves.

In the interview which was also carried by the mainstream TV stations, Raja Petra disavowed his statutory declaration (SD) linking Prime Minister Najib Razak's wife Rosmah Mansor to the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case.

Raja Petra, who is in self-imposed exile in United Kingdom, alluded that his SD was based on information ‘planted' by PKR leaders desperate to prevent Najib, who was then deputy prime minister, from succeeding Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Bala keeps lawyer in the loop

In Balasubramaniam's case, the private eye claimed he was asked to implicate Anwar and PKR leaders of paying him to commit perjury in his 2008 SD linking Najib with murdered Mongolian national Altantuya.

He said he was approached by the same people who had threatened and subsequently paid him a substantial amount to sign a second SD to say that his first sworn statement was made 'under duress' - businessman Deepak Jaikishan (right) and a police officer by the name of Suresh.

A key figure in the controversy surrounding the murder of Altantuya, Balasubramaniam fled to India with his family after signing the second SD.

Apparently promised RM5 million for his about-turn, Balasubramaniam said he received a total of RM700,000, in instalments, before the payments eventually stopped.

According to the private investigator, he was contacted by Deepak and Suresh through a mutual friend, Siva, about one week before the Sarawak election.

Siva, a businessman, had called Balasubramaiam's wife at their home in India as the private investigator was at the time taking a former staff on a temple tour in northern India.

Balasubramaniam's wife was told that Suresh and Deepak wanted to speak to him and she relayed the message to him.

"I told my wife I didn't want to speak to anyone."

After she conveyed his response to Siva, Suresh subsequently called her repeatedly on the phone.

"They were ‘torturing' my wife like hell. My wife could not take the pressure."

To spare his wife the harassment by Suresh, Balasubramaniam said he finally agreed to speak with Suresh and Deepak, but only after seeking advice from Americk Sidhu, his Malaysian lawyer.

Video recording was to tarnish Anwar

Americk told him to play along, and to document the events as they took place.

"Speak to them, get whatever evidence... it's for your ‘insurance'," Balasubramaniam said his lawyer told him.

Suresh then contacted him directly, after his wife gave his phone number to the police officer.

He said Suresh told him: "This is the deal: RM200,000 cash and a condo in Berjaya Times Square and after this, after everything is okay, I'll let you come back, and then maybe we will give you a project."

When Balasubramaniam asked Suresh what they wanted in return, Suresh told him that they wanted him to read out a statement they had prepared and for this to be recorded on video.

Asked what the statement was about, Balasubramaniam described it as "tarnishing PKR number one (Anwar)".

Part of the statement that was given to Balasubramaniam states: "I had to change my second SD because I was approached by Anwar who convinced me that he will become the new prime minister very shortly."

It also says that Anwar gave him RM200,000 "in a bag" and that RM50,000 would be banked into his account monthly.

The statement adds that both Balasubramaiam and Padang Serai MP N Gobalakrishnan would be made senators "to safeguard the rights of the Indians", and that the private eye had finally decided to come out with the "truth" because Anwar had betrayed the Indian community.

Initially Balasubramaniam refused to record the video on his own. He asked Deepak and Suresh to fly to India together with TV3 andUtusan Malaysia journalists, and he would do as they asked.

However, after a whole day had passed and further negotiations took place - this time with Deepak himself - Balasubramaniam finally agreed to make the video recording after it was stressed upon him that they needed the footage urgently.

Suresh then banked in RM100,000 into an account in the name of Balasubramaniam's wife. Then, through Siva, Deepak and Suresh handed over a copy of a sale-and-purchase agreement for the Berjaya Times Square condominium.

However, Balasubramaniam said he played his trump card after leading both Deepak and Suresh on.

'Deepak's furious call recorded'

"It (the video) was ready, already keyed in, I just (needed to) mail it. What I did was to mail it to my lawyer. When Deepak called, I told him I was sorry, I pressed the wrong button and mailed it to my lawyer instead."

On hearing this, Deepak was livid with anger.

"He was shouting at me like hell - that recording is with my lawyer - our last telephone communication, (and) I recorded it."

Asked if this was his intention right from the beginning, Balasubramaniam said "yes" and gave a hearty laugh.

"You know, this was the best opportunity I had. I did not come to ask (him for) money, I did an (first) SD, (and they) all came and jumped (on me) and sent my whole family (away to India).

"I lost my mother, I lost everything, what is left? I am sitting in Malaysia, my wife is sitting in India."

According to Balasubramaniam, his mother died when he was in hiding in India. It was only later, after Najib became prime minister, that he was able to make secret trips to Malaysia.

The private eye said he transferred the RM100,000 Suresh put in his wife's bank account to his lawyer's client account, and asked it to be returned to Deepak, who has a carpet business and is a close friend of PM's wife, Rosmah. The sale-and-purchase agreement of the condominium is also with his lawyer.

Balasubramaniam disclosed that he had recorded some of the conversations he had with Deepak and kept a logbook detailing everything that took place.

The evidence, he said, was being kept for his protection.




source : http://www.freemalaysiakini2.com/?p=40605

Phang dakwa Peguam Negara batu penghalang bagi BN

Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak telah digesa supaya menggantikan Abdul Gani Patail sebagai Peguam Negara kecuali Abdul Gani secara terbuka menangani senarai panjang dakwaan terhadapnya mengenai penyalahgunaan kuasa.

Bercakap dalam satu sidang akhbar hari ini, bekas anggota
panel penasihat Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM), Tan Sri Robert Phang berkata Najib perlu sedar bahawa Abdul Gani adalah liabiliti kepada BN.

 "Jangan jadi batu penghalang terbesar kepada usaha BN, terutama memandangkan BN cuba untuk mendapatkan matlamat terbaik dalam pilihan raya umum akan datang.

"Jika anda (AG) terus berdiam diri, tidak menangani tuduhan-tuduhan serius terhadap anda, ia pasti akan menjadi batu penghalang kepada semua usaha mereka," katanya.

Phang mendakwa Abdul Gani (kanan) mempunyai dendam terhadap peguam Rosli Dahlan, mempunyai hubungan rapat dengan bekas pengerusi Malaysia Airlines, Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli, yang telah disaisat oleh SPRM berhubung dakwaan rasuah, dan didakwa berpihak dalam perebutan lembaga pengarah Ho Hup Bhd.

Phang berkata kerana beliau telah menimbulkan isu-isu di atas sebelum ini, maka beliau telah menjadi sasaran "serangan yang berniat jahat" oleh penulis blog tanpa nama yang beliau percaya telah diupah untuk mempertahankan Abdul Gani.

source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/205318