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Sirul's alleged middleman emerges, denies role
Published:  Nov 25, 2015 8:19 AM
Updated: 6:46 AM

Abdul Salam Ahmad, the businessman named in an Al Jazeera documentary as the intermediary between fugitive Sirul Azhar Umar and the powers-that-be, has finally emerged to deny any such role.

Salam was named in Al Jazeera 's 101 East documentary on the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Sirul, together with Azilah Hadri, both commandos with the elite police Special Action Force and bodyguards to Najib Abdul Razak when he was deputy prime minister, were convicted of Altantuya's murder by the Federal Court in February this year.

"I state that I had never played any role for any party to Sirul Azhar, and that the first and second defamatory statements are mere invention and/or hurled with malice," Salam said in the report he lodged at the Section 6 police station in Shah Alam yesterday.

Salam was accompanied by his lawyer Akbardin Abdul Kader who said he received instructions to file a letter of demand and a suit against Al Jazeera for its report.

In the report, Salam referred to Al Jazeera 's claim that he was the middleman as the "first defamatory statement" and the text message purportedly from Sirul asking for payment so as not to implicate certain individual as the "second defamatory statement".

"I also hereby expressly state that I have never sent and/or replied an SMS, such as displayed in the second defamatory statement, to Sirul at any time whatsoever," Salam said in the police report.

He also denied that he did not respond to Al Jazeera 's request for comments on the matter.

"I state that this too is a malicious statement as I have never avoided giving any explanation.

"Instead, I contacted the reporter of the programme, Mary Ann Jolley ( photo ), to demand an explanation for her defamatory remarks.

"However, the reporter avoided and/or failed to respond to my demands for an explanation," his police report states.

Salam also took offence at how the documentary described him.

"I also state that the programme defamed me as having a history of bribery.

"I state that I have never been involved in any crime of bribery whereby I have never been charged or convicted by any court," he said.

In the police report, Salam said he wanted action to be taken against Al Jazeera for criminal defamation.

"I also lodge this report to set the record straight on the truth and to take appropriate action in court against the parties who have tarnished my reputation," he said.

Sirul is currently being held in a detention centre in Sydney and cannot be deported as Australia does not recognise the death sentence imposed in foreign countries.

Azilah remains in a Malaysian prison pending his execution.

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