Accused tells court Najib offered him RM3.5m to admit guilt, former PM says report ‘mischievousʼ
Victim’s brother also offered cash to plead guilty, says accused
THE seventh accused in the murder of deputy public prosecutor Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais told the High Court here yesterday that he was offered RM3.5 million by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to admit guilt.
S. Ravi Chandaran, 47, told the court that the offer was made through a prison officer and he also received an offer from Kevin Morais’s younger brother, Datuk Richard Morais, to do the same.
Ravi Chandaran, who is the defence’s sixth witness, said this when cross-examined by counsel Datuk N. Sivananthan, who is representing military pathologist Colonel Dr R. Kunaseegaran, during the proceedings on the 24th day of the defence’s case.
Sivananthan: You said Dr Kunaseegaran offered RM1.5 million for you to admit guilt. This was done on Dec 29 last year. Ravi Chandaran: True.
Sivananthan: You also lodged a police report that on Jan 26 this year, Richard Morais offered RM2 million for you to plead guilty.
Ravi Chandaran: Yes, true.
Sivananthan: In the same report, you said in February this year, there was a prison officer who offered you RM3.5 million to plead guilty on behalf of Najib Tun Razak.
Ravi Chandaran: Yes, true.
Ravi Chandaran also agreed to Sivananthan’s suggestion that the amount of money offered to him by the individuals concerned for him to plead guilty was RM7 million.
To a suggestion that that the accused just made up the story about the money, Ravi Chandaran said he disagreed.
He also disagreed with a suggestion that there was no reason for the individuals to offer him money.
When asked by Sivananthan on whether Dr Kunaseegaran had ordered him to kill Kevin Morais, the accused said: “No.” To a question whether Dr Kunaseegaran had ordered him to do something to Kevin Morais, such as to kidnap him, the accused also replied “no”.
R. Dinishwaran, A.K Thinesh Kumar, M. Vishwanath, S. Nimalan, Ravi Chandaran and Dr Kunaseegaran pleaded not guilty to the murder of Kevin Morais during their journey from Jalan Dutamas 1, Sentul, to No. 1 Jalan USJ 1/6D, Subang Jaya, between 7am and 8pm on Sept 4, 2015.
They are charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code and read together with Section 34 of the same code, which carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
The hearing before Judge Datuk Azman Abdullah resumes on Friday.
Bernama reports that Najib has labelled the report in which one of the accused in the Anthony Kevin Morais murder trial claimed to have been offered RM3.5 million from the former prime minister to admit his guilt, as “mischievous”.
Najib, in a statement reported by Malaysiakini, said Bernama had used a sensational and tabloid-ish headline.
Najib was quoted as saying that those who were too lazy to read the article would “automatically believe it”.
“Those who are not easily trapped by just reading headlines will surely find something amiss after reading the full article.
“There are seven accused in the murder. Only one of those accused suddenly claimed I offered him RM3.5 million through an unnamed Prisons Department officer to admit guilt in the Morais murder,” he was quoted as saying.