Nobody can pull a fast one on this polygraph examiner

Imagine being able to tell whenever a person is lying, from your spouse to your children to the people you work with – would it be more of a gift or a curse?

For Mr Malaravan Ponniah, the managing director of security firm SecuriState, it became the perfect opportunity to become one of just a handful of commercial polygraph examiners in Singapore.

Mr Malaravan – or Ron, a moniker from his military days – was trained as a forensic polygraph examiner during his 32-year career in the military.

After retiring in 2011, he set up the firm with the primary purpose of providing sea marshals to counter piracy operations in neighbouring seas. Today, the firm also supplies security guards to venues and events.

But every so often, the 62-year-old welcomes customers in the form of husband and wife – when one wishes to know if the other is cheating.

“Studies have shown that the test is about 90 to 92 per cent accurate. Basically, if a person is lying it would pick it up easily,” Ron tells tabla!

“We get matrimonial cases many times. Wife suspects husband, husband suspects wife. Rarely do people pass,” he adds with a laugh.

While polygraph exams cannot be used as evidence in Singaporean courts, they are widely used by law enforcement agencies here. In cases lacking evidence, polygraphs can aid law enforcers in decision-making.

At SecuriState, these tests cost anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000, depending on the case. While the bulk of his polygraph cases involve cheating spouses, many also come from employers doing pre-hiring checks.

Before getting hooked up to the polygraph machine, Ron says he does a pre-test interview lasting 30 minutes with the client, to go through the facts of the case and formulate his questions. This allows him to read a person – through body language, eyes and tone – and get a sense of whether he or she may be telling the truth.

“During the polygraph test, there’s an average of 10 questions, out of which three will be important questions pertaining to the case,” Ron says.

“Another four will be unimportant questions such as ‘are you now in an office?’ And then there are the control questions like ‘Did you lie to anyone in the past year?’

What the polygraph does, Ron explains, is measure the pulse, heart rate, blood pressure and breathing cycles – much like in the hospital monitors.

There are instances, of course, of people trying to “cheat the polygraph”.

Ron cites one recent example – a woman sent by a company for a pre-hire screening for an analyst job.

“One of my questions was whether she had ever passed information via computers or took information back home. And she started employing countermeasures. She was tightening her anus.

“So I stopped the test and asked her why she was doing so. She asked me: ‘you mean can see (on the reading)?’ I told her, yes of course I can.

“I failed her and wrote a report back to the company saying she was deceptive.”

Curious after hearing about the techniques employed and the ability to suss out deception, I ask Ron to test me.

Ron is reluctant.

“There must be an element of threat,” he explains. “For example, if I ask you, in the past one year, did you abuse anyone, verbal or physical?”

I look up to my left, and think for two seconds before answering.

But he interrupts.

“See that question made you think, you’re looking out there. If the element of threat is present during the session, I can see if the person is hiding the truth.”

“What is your phone number?” he asks me.

When I rattle the number off, he says: “See you looked straight, you never looked up or down. Your eyes are moving to the part of the brain where the answer is. And your answer was immediate, no latency. You were trying to give me the correct number.

“Have you noticed people saying: ‘err, you mean my phone number?’ They’re buying time. So when people repeat your question, they may be – it’s not always the case, of course – hiding information or lying.”

Wait, so I was hiding information earlier about abusing someone?

Before I can process that thought, Ron explains the polygraph’s one flaw, and perhaps why its results are still inadmissible in a court of law – the degree of inaccuracy, or bias, which the polygrapher can manipulate.

“I can make a person pass or fail. I was once offered $5,000 to help this guy pass the polygraph test,” he says.

“Even with the machine, the important thing is the examiner. He must also be experienced in detecting countermeasures.”