Parliament's refusal to discuss Sarbani 'suspicious': 'Show' inquest feared

UPDATED As expected, the Malaysian Parliament rejected a motion by the opposition to discuss the suspicious death of Selangor Customs assistant director Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed, igniting fresh talk of a major cover-up by Prime Minister Najib Razak's government.

Deputy Speaker Ronald Kiandee said that as an inquest would be held at the magistrate's court next month, there was no need to discuss the matter in the august House.

The motion was raised by DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang, who is among the many Pakatan Rakyat leaders including PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu and PKR leaders N Surendran, Tian Chua and Nurul Izzah, who have been fighting to get justice for Sarbani's kin.

The 56-year old Sarbani had gone to the MACC headquarters in Cheras in early April to see the investigating officer in charge of his case. He was out on bail after being detained to help in a money-laundering racket said to be worth some RM3 billion ringgit.

But Sarbani never left the MACC premises alive. His body was found sprawled in a pool of blood on the MACC's badminton court and it is believed he fell from a third floor office. A post mortem has already been conducted and an inquest is due to take place from July 4 to 15.

Whitewashing for MACC, blackening for Sarbani

However, neither his family nor colleagues are happy about it. They reject any notion that he may have committed suicide and suspect foul play. They see the inquest as a delaying tactic. His widow has already lodged a police report alleging that the MACC investigating officer had admitted to her his men were involved in her husband's death.

"The inquest process is being abused by the police and Attorney General. It is being used not to find about about the cause of death but to clear the reputation of the authorities. The AG is answerable for this state of affairs. I expect the inquest to whitewash the MACC and blacken Sarbani's reputation as happened in the Beng Hock case," PKR vice president N Surendran told Malaysia Chronicle.

Surendran was referring to Selangor political aide Teoh Beng Hock, whose body was also found at the MACC premises after overnight interrogation in July 2009. After an 18-month inquest, the Coroner delivered an open verdict that it was neither suicide or homiicide. The case has been escalated to a Royal Commission of Inquiry, where MACC prosecutors had made full use of the hearing to tarnish the credibility of Beng Hock's boss Ean Yong.

Beng Hock had been called as a witness into the MACC probe on Ean, and like Sarbani, the MACC has insisted he committed suicide because he did not want to implicate Ean. However, like Sarbani's kin, Beng Hock's family are adamant that their son died as a result of torture by the MACC officers.

- Malaysia Chronicle