Father: Son a scapegoat in jet engine theft

By ANDREW SAGAYAM
saggy@thestar.com.my

Father claims his RMAF son is made scapegoat

KUALA LUMPUR: The family of Royal Malaysian Air Force Sergeant N. Tharmendran, who is accused of stealing two jet engines, have filed a police report alleging that he was tortured in detention to confess to the crime and was being made a scapegoat.

His father N. Nagarajah said the people who allegedly ill-treated his son were named in the report, adding that they were senior RMAF officers.

“There is no way a person could have stolen the two engines by himself,” he told reporters before filing his report here, accompanied by lawyer N. Surendran, Teluk Intan MP M. Manoharan and Kapar MP S. Manickava-sagam.

He also claimed that equipment and spare parts related to the engines were missing although these were not reported.

“Many people are involved but they are putting the blame on my son,” he claimed.

Nagarajah, 71, said Tharmendran told him he was tortured for three weeks.

“My son told me that he was questioned repeatedly after midnight and was not allowed to sleep. The mental and physical torture occurred between June 2 and 17 last year.

“He was forced into an air-conditioned room and was stripped to his underwear. The air-con was turned on full.

“Two senior RMAF officers forced my son to wear a crash helmet, and they struck his head using a golf club and a cricket bat repeatedly,” Nagarajah said, urging that action be taken against those responsible.

A Public Accounts Committee’s investigation revealed that the two engines cost RM303,570 when the theft occurred in 2007.

At today’s conversion rate, they would cost RM412,855.

On Jan 6, Tharmendran was charged with stealing the two F5E jet engines in December 2007 at the Sg Besi RMAF airbase, and 37-year-old businessman K. Rajandran Prasad was charged with helping him to dispose of the engines on April 30, 2008.

Another RMAF personnel, Mohamad Shukri Mohd Yusop, was charged with abetting Tharmendran.

Rajandran is out on bail but Tharmendran could not come up with the RM150,000 bail and has been in detention for the last six months.

Their trial is due to start on July 19.