Remains of Kevin Morais finally laid to rest in Ipoh

Hundreds attend memorial mass, five months after government prosecutor was abducted and murdered.

PETALING JAYA: The remains of murdered government prosecutor Kevin Morais were laid to rest in his hometown of Ipoh on Saturday, five months after he was abducted and killed.

More than 200 people attended a memorial mass at the family’s regular church in Silibin, where they formerly lived, before the ashes were taken to the columbarium at the church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ipoh.

Morais was cremated on Nov 23, soon after his body had been claimed from the Kuala Lumpur mortuary where it had been kept for more than a month, while the family sought a second post-mortem examination.

Morais, 55, was deputy head of the Appellate and Trial Division in the Attorney-General’s Chambers, after being seconded to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission for 10 years.

He was abducted on Sept 4 while driving to work in a government-issued Proton Perdana. Intense speculation arose about his role in the investigations into the 1MDB controversy, and his possible connections to articles about the case that appeared on the Sarawak Report web site, especially after an image of a purported charge sheet against the prime minister was published.

The burnt-out wreck of Morais’s car was found in Perak a day after his abduction, and his body found in a cement-filled oil drum in a secluded part of Subang Jaya on Sept 16 after police made several arrests.

Seven men, including a doctor, will go on trial in April on murder and abetment charges.