Go after implicated MACC officials, says Teoh Beng Hock’s family

 

Teoh Beng Hock’s family members on their way to a meeting with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Putrajaya on Aug 1. At left is the family’s lawyer, Ramkarpal Singh.

PETALING JAYA: 

Family members of former political aide Teoh Beng Hock have called for the police to investigate officials of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission who are implicated in Beng Hock’s death.

In a statement today, Beng Hock’s sister Lee Lan said the police should investigate the MACC officials, instead of seeking further statements from the family.

She said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim should set up an international investigation team that could look into the case in an independent and professional manner if the police are incapable or unwilling to investigate the MACC officials.

Cynically, five MACC officials who were allegedly involved (in Beng Hock’s death) have stayed on and been promoted within MACC,

 she said. 

While we demanded that the prime minister immediately suspend them while waiting for investigations (to be conducted), he declined to comment further.

She said suspension of officials in order for investigations to be conducted impartially was completely within the prime minister’s power.

Beng Hock, an aide to a Selangor executive councillor, was found dead on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam in July 2009, hours after he had arrived for questioning at Selangor MACC’s headquarters on the 14th floor.

A coroner’s inquest in 2011 delivered an open verdict, which was set aside in 2014 by the Court of Appeal. In a unanimous verdict, the court ruled that Beng Hock’s death was caused by multiple injuries from a fall from the 14th floor involving unlawful act or acts of person or persons unknown.

The panel said this included MACC officers who were involved in Beng Hock’s arrest and investigation.

The Teoh family has previously obtained settlement of a civil suit against 10 MACC officers, the MACC and the government, with the defendants agreeing to pay the family RM600,000 in damages and RM60,000 in cost and admitted to negligence resulting in Teoh’s death.

On Thursday, Anwar promised a fresh investigation into Beng Hock’s death following a meeting between him and the family, and that the investigation would take into account the views of the Court of Appeal.

In today’s statement, Lee Lan said her family was shocked to learn that the police later said they wanted to summon the family members to have their statements recorded

Lee Lan said the police should instead be calling up the MACC officers implicated in Beng Hock’s death. 

Is this to force Beng Hock’s aging parents and heartbroken widow to revisit a past they desperately want to move on from (and get) closure?

 she said. - FMT