The leader of a women's NGO today denied that she was evading the police in its investigation on a controversial memorandum on the abuse of migrant workers released by her organisation, Tenaganita, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today.

Irene Fernandez said she was in China for an international women's conference and immediately after that proceeded to Thailand for other meeting, which was the reason why she was unavailable to be questioned by the police.

She said she left for Beijing one month after calling a press conference to announce that a memorandum on the abuse of inmates in the illegal immigrants detention camps would be submitted to various ministries.

"The memorandum and the press conference were on July 27 [1995] and I left for Beijing only one month later, and as far as I am concerned the relevant authorities had ample time to meet with me for further discussions," she said while being cross-examined by Utusan Malaysia 's legal counsel Mubashir Mansor.

Fernandez is suing Utusan Malaysia over an article which appeared on Sept 20, 1995 which alleged that she failed to cooperate with the police in their investigations into the allegations found in her memorandum which detailed allegations of tortures and deaths in the detention camps for illegal immigrants.

In the suit, Fernandez claimed that the article was written with malice, and had meant that she was purposely evading the police, was insincere and lacked integrity.

During the cross-examination today, Fernandez also claimed that her memorandum contained ample facts for the police to take action on.

According to Fernandez, she was in Beijing from Aug 29, 1995 to Sept 15 for the United Nations Conference on Women. Two days later, she left for another conference on Aids and sex workers in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She did not return to Malaysia until Sept 23.

A police report by the camp authorities was made against her on Sept 1, 1995, and five days later the police faxed to her office a request to interview her pertaining to the memorandum.

It was only on Sept 26 that her statement was taken by the police, which was followed by 10 days of continuous questioning.

Implicate herself

When asked by Mubashir why she had refused to hand over documents that formed the basis for the memorandum to the police, she said that she did not want to implicate herself.

"The police were not an independent commission of inquiry and I would also be implicated directly," said Fernandez.

"I also did not provide the documents for two reasons: one, to protect the confidentiality of the persons in the report and two, on the advice of my lawyers."

On a related matter, Fernandez is herself facing charges of "maliciously publishing false news" over the same memorandum, in a trial

that began in June 1996 and is still continuing. She faces a jail sentence of up to three years if found guilty.

Fernandez is represented by Malik Imtiaz and M Mogannambal while Utusan Malaysia is represented by Mubashir and Tan Joo Nho. Presiding over the hearing is justice Abdul Hamid Said.

The suit against Utusan Malaysia continues on July 5, while her 'false news' trial is due to resume on July 3.