By Hazlin Hassan

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - JUST a day after alleging that Malaysia's deputy premier had sexual relations with a Mongolian woman who was later found murdered, a former policeman dramatically retracted the story and claimed that he was coerced into making the charges.

Mr P. Balasubramaniam, who is now a private investigator, called a hastily-arranged press conference yesterday to say he was withdrawing his earlier allegations about Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

He had made them in a statutory declaration on Thursday morning at a press conference organised by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

He did not explain how he was allegedly coerced into making the claims, as he did not take questions during the press call.

'I wish to retract the entire contents of my Statutory Declaration... I was compelled to affirm the said Statutory Declaration... under duress,' he said in the new sworn statement.

Mr Balasubramaniam said the earlier declaration was 'inaccurate and not the truth'.

Yesterday, his former lawyer, Mr Americk Singh Sidhu, who had arranged the first statutory declaration, gave his own press conference.

He maintained that his former client had made the earlier allegations voluntarily, and that Mr Balasubramaniam had told him on Thursday that the police had asked him to give further evidence.

But he said that he had not been able to contact his client since Thursday night. Mr Balasubramanian now has a new lawyer.

Police say they will investigate both statements.

The stunning allegations against Mr Najib came hot on the heels of a police report filed against Datuk Seri Anwar by a former aide, Mr Saiful Bukhari Azlan, which alleged that his former employer had sexually assaulted him.

The opposition accused Mr Najib of orchestrating the sodomy accusation.

The very public and damaging war between Mr Anwar and Mr Najib is seen as a tussle for Malaysia's top job. Both men are leading contenders for the premiership.

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has been under pressure to resign since a March8 poll in which Barisan Nasional (BN) suffered heavy losses.

He has said he will hand over the post to Mr Najib, while Mr Anwar has threatened to seize power via defections from the BN ranks.

The publication of salacious and damaging allegations in legal documents has parallels with 1998, when Mr Anwar was first accused of sodomy. He was sacked by then-premier Mahathir Mohamad and charged in court.

Several of his employees later said they were coerced into making damaging statements against him.

A former Bank Negara top officer, Mr Murad Khalid, said in a statutory declaration at that time that Mr Anwar had also been involved in questionable business deals.

Mr Balasubramaniam had said he was told by Abdul Razak Baginda, a close associate of Mr Najib, that the deputy premier had had an affair with Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu, and had later introduced them to each other. Yesterday, he retracted that.

However, Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan said statutory declarations could not be withdrawn.

'A statutory declaration is a document that contains evidence given on oath... As in the case of all evidence given under oath, it cannot be withdrawn,' she was quoted as saying by Bernama.

However, she said, a statutory declaration can be supplemented or corrected. But she added that swearing a false declaration was an offence.

Mr Balasubramaniam was hired by Abdul Razak to keep Ms Altantuya away from him after their affair ended in 2006. Abdul Razak is now charged with abetting in her murder. The trial is pending.

Mr Najib did not comment yesterday. On Thursday, he maintained that he had never met Ms Altantuya, and had nothing to do with her.

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