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PRIVATE INVESTIGATION

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Spotlight: When only a private eye will do

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It used to be that you could only see private eyes on television or in the movies. Not any more. It has now become a respectable profession in the country. In fact, two of them are helping police in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case. NURRIS ISHAK trains her binoculars on the world of the private investigator or P.I.

KUALA LUMPUR: Shh... Look around, slowly. Someone might just be tailing you. He is not a stalker and not after your money. He has been paid to spy on you, to dig up the dirt on you. He is a private investigator.

More and more individuals and companies are hiring private eyes to ferret out information about their loved ones, their competitors, their prospective clients, their employees, and in one couple’s case, to prove their fidelity.



The smitten couple had decided, as a romantic gesture, to sit for a lie-detector test. So they contacted private investigator Akhbar Satar, who is also a certified forensic polygraph examiner.

"I thought it was amusing at first. But they were very serious about the whole thing. The woman told me that she would drop him in a second should he fail the test," said Akhbar.

When the results came, Akhbar slipped it into an envelope and told the couple to open it after he left. Two weeks later, he received a call from the woman. She thanked him, and told him that the relationship was over.

Such stories are part and parcel of the P.I.’s job. The new age P.I. is not only a spy, he or she is also an anti-fraud consultant, forensic accountant and document verification expert, among other things.

No wonder, then, that private investigation is becoming a very lucrative business. With some P.I. agencies raking in up to half-a-million ringgit per case, it is no surprise that more are mushrooming all over the city.

Last year, there were 217 agencies. Today, the total is 244.

Pushpa Ratnam, a family law practitioner, said in acrimonious divorce cases the parties would often resort to using private investigators to unearth the dirt on the other party.

"This happens especially during custody hearings. There will be character assassination as they want to prove that the other is an unfit parent," she said.

When a marriage is headed for the rocks, there are issues which need to be resolved, such as maintenance and custody. This is where fact-finding and evidence play an important role.

"If a woman alleges that her husband is having an affair, it would require concrete proof. It can be quite difficult to get, so this is where the private investigator comes in," said Pushpa.

She added that the wife could claim for damages from the "third party" in the marriage if she could prove that person was the cause of the marital breakdown.

To prove adultery, the private investigator is required to collect evidence of suspicious behaviour, such as photographs, phone bills and letters.

"A private investigator plays an important role in cases where evidence is hard to come by. He is also useful when a person is trying to evade the court process. They can track down the itinerant person within days."

But the services of the private investigator are not called upon just for divorce cases. He can also check if someone is lying.

This is where someone like Akhbar comes in. Akhbar, who heads Akhbar & Associates, is the former Negri Sembilan director of the Anti-Corruption Agency.

After opting for early retirement, he started his private investigation agency in Kuala Lumpur. He recruited, among others, a former law enforcement director and a former central bank manager. Their experience proved invaluable to his cases.

Akhbar has an edge as he is a certified forensic polygraph examiner. He is the only private investigator in Malaysia with a lie detector machine, which has been used by his clients to screen their employees. He claims the polygraph machine is 98 per cent accurate.

His charges are based on the degree of difficulty of the case. "If it requires a lot of time and effort, then the client would be charged more. In cases where we have to do stake-outs, we charge them RM120 per hour."

Even multinational companies with global links, including financial institutions and oil and gas companies, are seeking the help of local P.I. agencies.

"We check them to see if they have any bad records and if all the information they have given is correct,".

In a month, each of the analysts go through many resumes. The forgeries are done by all levels of employees.

One case involved the vice-president of a foreign bank who was applying for a senior position in an international firm.

"After he was investigated, it was found that he faked his degrees,".

Needless to say, the applicant did not get the job he applied for and lost his old job to boot.

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Licence to investigate

AGENCIES which employ private investigators come under the purview of the Internal Security Ministry.

The licence issued allows them to give authority cards to their employees who are subjected to vetting by the police.

The licence requires one of the shareholders to be a former police or army officer who, at the time of leaving the force, was an assistant police superintendent or captain.

Two separate licences are granted under Section 3 of the Private Agency Act 1971.

One is for companies providing security guards and the other is for private investigators and insurance adjusters, which allows them to gather information on individuals.

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