Blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, who is presently in Bangkok, has his statement recorded by two Bukit Aman officers tonight at his hotel in the Thai capital.

Deputy inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar said Raja Petra was not arrested after giving the statement.

"We asked him to give a statement and he agreed to assist the police," he told Bernama .

"There was no reason for us to arrest him as he cooperated by giving the statement," he said.

According to a Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) press statement this evening, Raja Petra was to have his statement recorded at 8pm Thai time (9pm Malaysian time).

NONE MCLM said that Malaysian embassy officials had contacted the blogger this afternoon, just before he gave a talk at Bangkok's Florida Hotel. The event also served to launch MCLM’s Thailand chapter.

Raja Petra was reportedly asked to head for the embassy immediately after his talk.

But late this evening, Raja Petra said he would not be going to the Malaysian embassy but instead offered to meet the officials at his hotel tomorrow.

However, the Bukit Aman officials subsequently decided to record his statement at his hotel tonight.

Deputy IGP Khalid said the statement was in connection with a report lodged by NGO Jaringan Melayu Malaysia on April 14 over the blogger's 2008 statutory declaration on the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case.

Raja Petra, who is chairperson of MCLM and editor of the website Malaysia Today , had last week reiterated that his statutory declaration linking Najib Razak to Altantuya's murder was based on information and exhortation from certain individuals who had been out to prevent Najib from becoming prime minister.

According to him, they were Nik Azmi Nik Daud, John Pang, blogger Din Merican and military intelligence officer Col Azmi Zainal Abidin.

On April 19, Bernama reported Bukit Aman CID director Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin saying that the police was gathering information and studying statements relating to these individuals.