The police will investigate allegations of criminal activities laid out in the letter by Iranian asylum seeker Gulam Hassan Anwari, who died yesterday after setting fire to himself outside United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in Kuala Lumpur.

"We will look into the allegations. We will be investigating all angles of the case," said Brickfields deputy police chief Mohd Kuzi Minai when contacted today.

For a start, he said police have identified and interviewed the female companion of Gulam who had accompanied him to the UNHCR office in Jalan Bellamy, Bukit Petaling, yesterday morning.

It was also learnt that the police had interviewed UNHCR officials yesterday afternoon.

In a letter left for reporters, Gulam had claimed that a company that had cheated him of large sums of money in a botched business deal was also involved in an extensive passport fraud and drug trafficking syndicate.

He had named several individuals and the company, urging the police to pursue investigations into their activities.

Gulam had also said he would prove his allegations to the police if he did not die. However, he succumbed to his injuries last night at the intensive care unit of the Kuala Lumpur Hospital, some 10 hours after making his fatal decision.

It is believed that he was distressed over the rejection of his asylum application by the UNHCR two years ago, and by his failed business deal.

Public obligation

Kuzi advised the public to immediately notify the police if they receive information about anyone threatening to commit suicide.

He said, that although police were notified about Gulam's intentions yesterday, the warning came too late for them to do anything to prevent the tragedy.

"The officers arrived there a few minutes after the incident. We were only informed about it about half an hour earlier," he said.

"Every citizen has to try to save lives. This includes the press as well. (Journalists) cannot just be there to take pictures. They have to help."

Kuzi said this in response to questions as to why the police were not at hand to prevent the incident, although the press were aware of Gulam's intentions at least a day in advance.

The Star reported today that it had informed the police after receiving a telephone call from Gulam on Monday urging them to send a representative at 11am (yesterday) to the UNHCR office.

When contacted, New Straits Times crime desk editor Tony Emmanuel said the message he received was that Gulam was merely unhappy that he was not given refugee status and that he wanted to meet the press outside the UNHCR office.

The Malay Mail said Gulam had initially contacted a reporter to be present on Monday but that, disappointed at the no-show, he had called journalists from several other newspapers to be present yesterday.

Gulam, in his letter, had claimed that he came to Malaysia in 2001 from the Baluchistan region at the Iran-Pakistan border.