The late deputy home minister Megat Junid Megat Ayob’s former bodyguard today told the press that it was in January when he first heard one of the ‘ Datuk T ’ trio Shazryl Eskay Abdullah’s desire to bring opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim down.

According to Mohamad Mahti Abdul Rahim, 63, he was at a meeting with Eskay and three other friends in a Starbucks outlet in Midvalley Mall, Kuala Lumpur on Jan 19 when he heard Eskay make the threats.

"I had asked him, who will be his witness in his (civil) case (against Merong Mahawangsa and Yahya A Jalil over the 'crooked bridge’ contract), and he said ‘Anwar’.

"I asked 'Are you sure' and he said, 'He must or else I will buat dia (hit him) until he falls'.

"Eight ears heard this and I can present the witnesses to you if you have doubts," he told reporters at his goat ranch in Kundang, Selangor today.

NONE Mahti, who seemed more confident than his first press conference yesterday, said he had met Eskay at the Starbucks outlet following an earlier meeting in De Palma Hotel, Ampang on Jan 17, when Eskay first mentioned the bridge case.

He said he met Eskay again to find out how the latter managed to import goats from Burma in the past.

Mahti, presently a goat breeder, was a witness in the crooked bridge case on March 8 when he testified that Megat Junid was close to Eskay and that his boss had passed Eskay a letter from the Economic Planning Unit about the the project in 1998.

Yesterday he told the press that Eskay was sore with Anwar because the former finance minister had refused to testify in the case. Eskay's lawyer CV Prabhakaran has however denied this.

'Evidence from Thailand'

According to Mahti, Eskay tried to contact Anwar on March 8, and seemed upset with the PKR de facto leader.

He added that in a telephone call on March 11, the businessman told him that Anwar had "stolen (their) money" and that he would "bring him down".

But Mahti said he did not ask for details as he did not want to be implicated.

"(Eskay) said, 'I am going to Thailand to collect evidence to take Anwar down," added Mahti.

NONE Two days before the sensational sex video screening at Carcosa Seri Negara, Mahti said he met Eskay ( right ) again at a coffee shop near Ampang Point.

"(Eskay said) 'I have enough evidence to bring Anwar down',” said Mahti.

"He asked for four UTK (Unit Tindakan Khas) personnel (to protect) him, and two for me.

"I wondered what for, as I ride a motorcycle... but I told him I don't want to know about the evidence as I was afraid," he said.

This, he said, was before they went to the house of Shuib Lazim - the other Datuk T - in Ukay Heights as Eskay insisted that Mahti meet his 'brother' who could vouch for him.

Mahti claims he refused to listen to the details at Shuib's house, and before leaving, he had asked Eskay if he still needed the UTK personnel.

"He said, 'No need'."

Mahti told the press that he was now coming forward with this information because he had not been able to sleep well since the Datuk T incident took place, and said he was ready to assist the police investigations if required.

However, he has not been contacted by the police.

Shuib calls Mahti

Mahti also revealed that he received a call from Shuib ( below ) after his press conference yesterday, and the latter offered to meet him to explain what had happened.

However, they did not set a meeting.

NONE "I believe Shuib and (the final member of the trio, former Malacca Chief Minister) Rahim Thamby Chik are not involved, or maybe have been influenced by him (Eskay).

"I believe he is doing this because he no longer has an 'in' (to the present corridors of power) as he did with (former premier) Dr Mahathir (Mohamad), and is doing this to 'tackle' (Prime Minister) Najib Abdul Razak.

"But I believe Najib has nothing to do with it. There is no conspiracy. (Eskay) was acting alone," he said.