Contractor, workmen not suspects in Zalina case, say police

SHAH ALAM: A contractor and his two workers are not “persons of interest” in the search for former newscaster Zalina Azman (pic), say police.

Shah Alam OCPD Asst Comm Mohd Iqbal Ibrahim said statements were taken from the trio two weeks ago.

All three, he said, had only been involved in renovating Zalina’s house in Shah Alam.

“Based on our investigations, they are not the persons of interest,” he told reporters yesterday.

He said investigations revealed that Zalina had paid the contractor in phases for the renovation work.

“The contractor quoted her RM320,000 for the work, including converting the living room area into a studio, (but) she had (only) paid RM260,000.

“She told the contractor that she ran out of cash,” he said, adding that the last transaction Zalina made to the contractor was RM20,000 in August last year.

ACP Mohd Iqbal said police had taken statements from 20 individuals regarding the case to date.

“We went to her house three times and left no stone unturned.

“We also brought in a tracker dog but it could not detect Zalina’s scent around the house area,” he said, adding that several documents and a laptop were seized from the house to help in the investigation.

It was reported that police last made a visit to Zalina’s house on July 28 but found no clues.

News emerged on July 18 that Zalina, 58, had been missing since Nov 29 last year.

Her son, Mikhael Norman, 33, lodged a police report after failing to reach her for five days.

Police believed that Zalina was still in the country as there were no records of her leaving.