Teoh inquest: Cop says afraid to probe into alleged suicide note

SHAH ALAM - The police officer who investigated Teoh Beng Hock’s death has admitted he dared not probe further into the contents of the political aide’s alleged suicide note without orders from above.

ASP Ahmad Nazri Zainal said he did not call Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers for a second interview because he wanted to keep to a lid on its contents, in the absence of instruction.

“Saya tidak berani membongkarkan kandungan surat tersebut. (I did not dare to reveal the contents of the letter),” the soft-spoken policeman told the coroner’s court here today in response to Teoh family lawyer Gobindh Singh Deo’s rapid-fire questions.

The admission came after Gobind asked Ahmad Nazri why he did not take additional statements from the MACC officers, even after the note had been translated and submitted to the Attorney-General’s (A-G) Chambers on October 8 last year.

Ahmad Nazri said today he only questioned the MACC officers involved once from July 17 to 31, 2009, before the note was translated.

The note, found in Teoh’s bag the night of his mysterious death in July last year, was only tendered as evidence by the A-G Chambers in August this year - some 10 months after the start of the inquest.

The court translation of the controversial note – written in Chinese – reads: “Dalam keadaan tidak menyalin fail dalam komputer saya, mereka telah mengambil semua komputer itu. Mereka asyik menyalahkan kamu. Minta maaf. Tidak mengerti tapi pura-pura mengerti, akhirnya menyusahkan kamu. Saya kata ‘mendapat kelulusan YB’. Mereka berdegil menaip jadi ‘mengikut arahan YB’. Saya tidak dapat membantu kamu. Maaf. Saya sangat penat. Selamat tinggal.”

(“They took the computers without letting me copy any files. They always blame you. I’m sorry. Not understanding but pretending to understand, finally bringing you difficulty. I said, ‘I got approval from YB’. They insisted on typing ‘to follow YB’s instructions’. I cannot help you. I’m sorry. I’m very tired. Goodbye.”)

Gobind, however, has challenged court interpreter Ting Chin Kin’s translation, who admitted to using Google Translate to do the job.

When asked why he handed in the note nearly three months after Teoh’s mysterious fall, Ahmad Nazri said he initially disregarded it, thinking the Chinese-language document was related to Teoh’s work as a political aide because of the words “mengikut arahan YB”.

The tall, lanky investigating office, however, agreed with Gobind that it was also “not fair” for the note to have been withheld until recently but refused to say whether the A-G’s Chambers should be blamed for introducing it 10 months after it was submitted.

An animated Gobind said this alleged inaction by the A-G suggested a “deliberate” cover-up was in progress by parties trying to control the “farce” inquest.

The Puchong MP argued that the note had only been introduced after pathologists Dr Peter Vanezis and Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand said Teoh could have suffered pre-fall injuries to convince the public that the political aide might have committed suicide.

Speaking with reporters later outside the courtroom, Gobind said that, while many aspects of the investigation were not satisfactory, Ahmad Nazri had been “very forthright and forthcoming”.

“I don’t think one can place the blame squarely on him for what has happened,” he said.

“He was an officer who had informed the A-G’s Chambers about evidence that was in his possession and he was waiting for instructions. As he said in court today, those instructions came much later.”>

Teoh, political secretary to Selangor state executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah of DAP, was found dead on the fifth-floor podium of Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam last July 16 after overnight interrogation by the MACC.

Teoh is suspected to have fallen from the building’s 14th floor, then state headquarters of the MACC.

The inquest will resume on October 22. - Malaysian Insider