KUALA LUMPUR: Businessman Charles Suresh Morais has denied talk that he fled Malaysia after releasing his statutory declaration (SD), saying there was nothing left for him to do in Malaysia after his wish for a second post-mortem on his brother’s body did not work out.
The oldest sibling of murdered DPP Anthony Kevin Morais, who left Malaysia after releasing a SD on his brother’s murder, said he was mulling a defamation suit against Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar for calling him a “coward”.
He said he did not “flee” but that there was “nothing left” for him to do in Malaysia after Kevin’s body was claimed from the Kuala Lumpur Hospital mortuary last week.
The Morais family had been keeping the body there since September and had been pushing for a second autopsy, claiming the first post-mortem report was “vague”.
However, Kevin’s youngest brother, Datuk Richard, claimed the body last Monday, the same day the family filed a court order for the second autopsy.
There is no word on what has been done to the body, though family members believe it had been cremated.
“So what is there to stay for? The body is gone.
“My only reason to stay was to get a second autopsy,” Charles, 52, told The Starafter arriving in Atlanta, Georgia, yesterday.
Charles reportedly owns a chain of hotels under the Atlanta-based Kronos Hotels and Resorts.
He has been under the spotlight following a highly publicised SD where he claimed to have received a pen drive from Kevin a month before his disappearance which implicates high-ranking Malaysian officials.
When asked if he would share the contents of the pen drive, as requested by Bukit Aman, Charles said he was discussing it with his lawyers.
As for Khalid’s remark that police knew what he did before going to the United States, he said: “I don’t know what he’s talking about. I have no criminal background.”
Khalid had said that police had opened a case against him for withholding information and for attempting to commit sabotage.
“We know who Charles Morais is and his background. We know what transpired when he went to the US,” Khalid reportedly said.
Yesterday, Khalid said police would be calling Charles’ lawyer Americk Sidhu to help in tracking down his client.
“We have contacted him and he will be coming in to help us in the next couple of days,” he said after attending the closing ceremony of the Police Karate Cup championship here yesterday.
