Malaysian PIs: How they work
Malaysian PIs: How they work
Suspect your husband or wife of cheating on you? Need evidence for a divorce case so that you can hit back? Or maybe, it burns you up so much inside that you want videos of your spouse ‘in action’? How about hiring a private investigator? StarWeekend goes behind the scene
Nope, there’re no trenchcoats and darkglasses. Instead, these two Malaysian Indian private investigators (PIs) look like regular macchas (buddies). One, let’s call him Kanna, is 42, plump and balding, like the police chief from NYPD Blue. The other, umm, Jeya, is 36 and good-looking. Oh yes, he’s a part-time TV actor too.
The pair, both brothers from MJK Investigators, based in downtown Kuala Lumpur, won’t allow photos of them during the interview.
“We have to keep a low profile while on the job-lah,” says Jeya.
According to him “business is booming” for PIs in the area of cheating spouses.
Why?
“People have lots of problems. In Western countries, every other thing also they hire PIs. It begun taking off in Malaysia in the past two years. People are more aware,” explains Jeya.
Raju, a PI from another company in his late 30s, puts it this way: “Things are getting worse. It shows what Malaysians are like under the sheets.”
And then there is David, another Malaysian Indian in his early 40s who charges up to RM5,000 for a week of surveillance on a “target” with a three-man team on two motorbikes and in one car.
Together, they tell the story of how PIs help clients who have cheating partners.
1) How they work
Good ol’ tailing
Fees for PIs are steep. Yet people are willing to pay to gather hard evidence as ammunition in divorce proceedings, where property or children’s custody are at stake. However there are discounts if the client “just wants to know” whether his or her partner is fooling around on the sly.
David had a case of a certain Puan Sri who suspected her son-in-law, a Mat Salleh lawyer, of cheating on her daughter.
“We followed the lawyer around KL. He would pick this woman up and go to nightclubs. One day they flew to Penang. I put an operative on the flight to follow them all the way to a five-star hotel in Batu Feringghi. Maybe they thought they were out of town and let down their guard. We took photos of them holding hands and of him teaching her how to swim.”
Videos and pictures
But it wasn’t enough evidence.
“Our operative was, umm, very creative,” says David. “With the help of housekeeping staff, he entered their hotel room when they went to town and then took pictures of their stuff. When we showed it to the wife, she easily recognised his clothes. It was good enough for the lawyers.”
“We don’t break the law,” he smiles. “We just skirt very near the rim.”
As for MJK, Jeya showed me video footage stored in his laptop, supposedly of a client’s wife’s car parked outside a hotel and of her apartment.
“We present the evidence to the client like a story board. Our surveillance camera shots with time stamps also prove that we’ve done our job.”
Hotel room receipts
According to Raju, other “proof” of infidelity includes hotel room receipts or footage from hotel security cameras. How do PIs get them?
“Money talks,” declares Raju. “It costs anything from RM50 to RM400 to pay off hotel staff to get hotel billing records. Sometimes, they may say, ‘Aisay, give more-lah, I have to share with others on the front desk-lah’.
”Sometimes, we will pay hotel security guards and ask, ‘Eh, this car got come, ah?’” reveals Kanna.
Phone bill records
“This may show that your partner is having a one hour conversation with somebody at 2am. Or very frequent SMS or calls to certain numbers,” explains Raju.
He acknowledges that it’s “not very legal” to retrieve phone or hotel bills.
“But you know-lah, everything has a price,” he quips.
Kanna notes that PIs have been jailed and phone company staff have been reprimanded for the sale of phone call records.
“It’s a common practice in this industry. But one day a high-profile Datuk may complain if he’s being monitored,” he adds.
Phone taps
Not a problem either, although it’s much more difficult and expensive to tap mobile phones compared to fixed lines, says Raju.
GPS car trackers
These are commercially available and can track car movements using GPS.
“Sometimes we’re involved in high speed car chases – from a distance, we can’t follow too closely. Some of these guys drive 7 series and just whack 160, even 180.
They’re in such a hurry to see their mistresses. It’s OK. We also drive fast cars,” he smiles, while declining to reveal the models.
Electronic bugs and hidden cameras
These are widely advertised on the Internet, notes Jeya. MJK Investigators also uses pin-hole cameras which can be attached to clothes.
“In one case, we went into a nightclub and we saw the wife there with another guy. We took pictures.”
Sex scenes
“We’ve recorded it only once before,” recalls David. “Only because they left the apartment windows open. They were doing it in the hall.”
Jeya avows that they install hidden surveillance cameras only in “extreme circumstances”.
“We’re not perverts or voyeurs. Some clients do request us to record their partners having sex with the other person.
We say no. What’s the purpose? It’s good enough evidence if your wife is walking into a hotel room with another man. Or if they are kissing and caressing.”
“The fact that they ask for sex scenes shows that they are seriously disturbed, gone overboard, lost it already-lah.”
Sperm samples
Nope, they don’t scour mattresses for that.
“That’s already a criminal investigation involving police forensics,” says Kanna.
Police connections?
MJK investigators claims to have “very good connections” with the police to facilitate their work. Jeya adds that some freelance PIs are ex-policemen.
Suspect your husband or wife of cheating on you? Need evidence for a divorce case so that you can hit back? Or maybe, it burns you up so much inside that you want videos of your spouse ‘in action’? How about hiring a private investigator? StarWeekend goes behind the scene
Nope, there’re no trenchcoats and darkglasses. Instead, these two Malaysian Indian private investigators (PIs) look like regular macchas (buddies). One, let’s call him Kanna, is 42, plump and balding, like the police chief from NYPD Blue. The other, umm, Jeya, is 36 and good-looking. Oh yes, he’s a part-time TV actor too.
The pair, both brothers from MJK Investigators, based in downtown Kuala Lumpur, won’t allow photos of them during the interview.
“We have to keep a low profile while on the job-lah,” says Jeya.
According to him “business is booming” for PIs in the area of cheating spouses.
Why?
“People have lots of problems. In Western countries, every other thing also they hire PIs. It begun taking off in Malaysia in the past two years. People are more aware,” explains Jeya.
Raju, a PI from another company in his late 30s, puts it this way: “Things are getting worse. It shows what Malaysians are like under the sheets.”
And then there is David, another Malaysian Indian in his early 40s who charges up to RM5,000 for a week of surveillance on a “target” with a three-man team on two motorbikes and in one car.
Together, they tell the story of how PIs help clients who have cheating partners.
1) How they work
Good ol’ tailing
Fees for PIs are steep. Yet people are willing to pay to gather hard evidence as ammunition in divorce proceedings, where property or children’s custody are at stake. However there are discounts if the client “just wants to know” whether his or her partner is fooling around on the sly.
David had a case of a certain Puan Sri who suspected her son-in-law, a Mat Salleh lawyer, of cheating on her daughter.
“We followed the lawyer around KL. He would pick this woman up and go to nightclubs. One day they flew to Penang. I put an operative on the flight to follow them all the way to a five-star hotel in Batu Feringghi. Maybe they thought they were out of town and let down their guard. We took photos of them holding hands and of him teaching her how to swim.”
Videos and pictures
But it wasn’t enough evidence.
“Our operative was, umm, very creative,” says David. “With the help of housekeeping staff, he entered their hotel room when they went to town and then took pictures of their stuff. When we showed it to the wife, she easily recognised his clothes. It was good enough for the lawyers.”
“We don’t break the law,” he smiles. “We just skirt very near the rim.”
As for MJK, Jeya showed me video footage stored in his laptop, supposedly of a client’s wife’s car parked outside a hotel and of her apartment.
“We present the evidence to the client like a story board. Our surveillance camera shots with time stamps also prove that we’ve done our job.”
Hotel room receipts
According to Raju, other “proof” of infidelity includes hotel room receipts or footage from hotel security cameras. How do PIs get them?
“Money talks,” declares Raju. “It costs anything from RM50 to RM400 to pay off hotel staff to get hotel billing records. Sometimes, they may say, ‘Aisay, give more-lah, I have to share with others on the front desk-lah’.
”Sometimes, we will pay hotel security guards and ask, ‘Eh, this car got come, ah?’” reveals Kanna.
Phone bill records
“This may show that your partner is having a one hour conversation with somebody at 2am. Or very frequent SMS or calls to certain numbers,” explains Raju.
He acknowledges that it’s “not very legal” to retrieve phone or hotel bills.
“But you know-lah, everything has a price,” he quips.
Kanna notes that PIs have been jailed and phone company staff have been reprimanded for the sale of phone call records.
“It’s a common practice in this industry. But one day a high-profile Datuk may complain if he’s being monitored,” he adds.
Phone taps
Not a problem either, although it’s much more difficult and expensive to tap mobile phones compared to fixed lines, says Raju.
GPS car trackers
These are commercially available and can track car movements using GPS.
“Sometimes we’re involved in high speed car chases – from a distance, we can’t follow too closely. Some of these guys drive 7 series and just whack 160, even 180.
They’re in such a hurry to see their mistresses. It’s OK. We also drive fast cars,” he smiles, while declining to reveal the models.
Electronic bugs and hidden cameras
These are widely advertised on the Internet, notes Jeya. MJK Investigators also uses pin-hole cameras which can be attached to clothes.
“In one case, we went into a nightclub and we saw the wife there with another guy. We took pictures.”
Sex scenes
“We’ve recorded it only once before,” recalls David. “Only because they left the apartment windows open. They were doing it in the hall.”
Jeya avows that they install hidden surveillance cameras only in “extreme circumstances”.
“We’re not perverts or voyeurs. Some clients do request us to record their partners having sex with the other person.
We say no. What’s the purpose? It’s good enough evidence if your wife is walking into a hotel room with another man. Or if they are kissing and caressing.”
“The fact that they ask for sex scenes shows that they are seriously disturbed, gone overboard, lost it already-lah.”
Sperm samples
Nope, they don’t scour mattresses for that.
“That’s already a criminal investigation involving police forensics,” says Kanna.
Police connections?
MJK investigators claims to have “very good connections” with the police to facilitate their work. Jeya adds that some freelance PIs are ex-policemen.
posted by Trailblazer Investigations Inc Trailblazer Investigations Florida | Saturday, October 08, 2005
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home