8 theSun | THURSDAY MARCH 19 2009

news without borders

by Tan Yi Liang Deputy public prosecutor Saiful

‘Dentist aware of payments Hazmi Mohd Saad then challenged

newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: A witness in the
graft trial of former Tourism Ma-
laysia director-general Datuk Mirza
Mohammad Taiyab Beg Mirza Hadi
Hassan Beg told the sessions court
yesterday that she was aware his bills
were being paid by a third party, but
did not inform him of it.
“All bill notification is done by
my office manager, and she told
him we would inform him after the
treatment, and the bill and charges
would be given then,” said Clinical
Practice Prosthodontics owner Dr
Kamsiah Ghulam Haider, who was
the prosecution’s ninth witness.
She said the clinic manager pre-
pared the bills and handled how the
patients will pay.
“The clinic manager will then
show it us, so we don’t overcharge,
or charge wrongly,” she said.
Under cross-examination by de-
fence counsel Saseedharan Menon,
Kamsiah said the receipt handed to
but didn’t tell accused’
the MACC investigation officers was
not the one produced in 2005.
To a suggestion from Saseedha-
ran that the sales receipt was for
June 6, 2005, Kamsiah said she did
not agree.
Saseedharan then asked when it
was prepared.
“It must have been when the
ACA (now MACC) came to the of-
fice, they wanted a sales receipt, so
my manager printed out a receipt,”
Kamsiah said.
“Was it an old receipt or a crea-
tion?” Saseedharan said.
“It was a creation,” Kamsiah said.
“How is it a creation?” Saseedha-
ran said.
“It could have been because a
duplicate had gone missing and since
they insisted on a receipt, she could
have gone through the records and
prepared one,” Kamsiah said.
When Saseedharan suggested that
the ACA asked her to put the date
of June 8, 2005 on the receipt, and
that was no sales receipt for June 8,
Kamsiah said the receipt issued in
2005 followed the copy of the cheque,
and probably the manager could not
remember the date when the cheque
was issued, so she created an invoice
from that period.
Kamsiah then testified that she
was subjected to a polygraph test as
part of the MACC investigations and
passed it.
When asked why by Saseedha-
ran, she said because the statements
taken from her former husband
Zulhisyam Ayob and other people
were not consistent.
the relevance of the polygraph
recordings to the proceedings, and
Saseedharan rebutted that the poly-
graph test was specifically focused
on Mirza Mohd Taiyab.
“This is part of the investigations,
and it goes to the root of the inves-
tigation and the charge,” he said in
response to repeated objections by
Saiful for questioning the polygraph
test done on Kamsiah.
Saseedharan then asked the court
to make a ruling on the relevance of
the polygraph test and suggested an
adjournment.
Mirza Mohd Taiyab is alleged to
have received a bribe in the form of
dental treatment worth RM13,860 in
2005 from Perunding Pakar Media
director Zulhisyam Ayob when he
was Tourism Malaysia’s deputy
director-general I. Zulhisham is
alleged to have paid with a cheque
the cost of the treatment at Clinical
Practice Prosthodontics Sdn Bhd.
The hearing continues on May 19.

Mirza
Mohammad
Taiyab at
‘Impossible for Sujatha to take Paraquat unknowingly’
the court by S. Tamarai Chelvi
yesterday. newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: A doctor told a
coroner’s inquest into the death of
local actress K. Sujatha yesterday it
was “not possible” for her to have
drunk (weed-killer) Paraquat “un-
knowingly.”
During cross-examination by
lawyer Datuk K. Kumaraendran, who
is representing Maika Holdings Bhd
chief executive officer Vell Paari
and the deceased’s family, Dr S.P.
Sakthiveloo (pix) said this was based
on three reasons:
» First, it was said she had taken
two to three gulps but the “lavage”
(content of the stomach taken out)
showed a large amount;
» Second, the distinctive smell (of
Paraquat) which puts a person off;
and
» Third, there was evidence to indi-
cate she had consumed it directly
from the bottle.
Sakthiveloo, 35, who is operat-
ing a clinic in Klang, was testifying
at the inquest of Sujatha, 28, who
died at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah
Hospital (TARH) in Klang on June 25,
2007, four days after admission, for
consuming weedkiller.
Asked by DPP Anselm Charles
Fernandis if he had questioned
Sujatha during the journey to TARH,
Sakthiveloo said he asked her what
time she had consumed
the Paraquat and she
replied she was not sure
... perhaps about 30 min-
utes to an hour before.
Hesaid he had also
asked her whether she
had vomitted after con-
suming the weedkiller,
and she replied “once or
twice”.
Fernandis : Did you
ask her why she drank
Paraquat?
Sakthiveloo: I did. She did not
answer.
Sakthiveloo said Sujatha was
relatively quiet and had given mono-
syllabic answers to his questions.
Earlier, Sakthiveloo told the in-
quest rather than refer Sujatha to the
nearby Kuala Lumpur Hospital (KLH),
he had recommended she be sent
to TARH in Klang to cut red tape and
enable him to monitor her progress.
Sakthiveloo said he gave this
advice to Vell Paari, who is his first
cousin, about 6pm on June 19, 2007,
to avoid traffic jams and unnecessary
delays at the KLH.
“As I am attached to the hospital,
I can cut through the red tape for
such cases by bringing her (Sujatha)
directly to the ‘Yellow Zone’, rather
than the triage counter which is
managed by a medical assistant,” he
said.
Asked by Fernandis
whether it would have been
a better choice for Sujatha
to have been treated at KLH
as it was equipped with the
best emergency facilities
and referral centre, Sak-
thiveloo said the journey
(to KLH) would take about
20 minutes, and another 20
to 25 minutes at the triage
counter.
“On the way to the Klang hospital
which took 45 minutes, I had already
contacted a house officer (doctor) at
the emergency department to pre-
pare the antidote and treatment to
wash Sujatha’s stomach immediately
upon arrival,” he explained.
Pressed further by Fernandis that
since he was attached to the govern-
ment hospital, he could do the same
at the KLH by avoiding the triage
counter, the doctor said he could not
comment on that, as he had never
done that.
To another question by Fernandis,
the doctor admitted there was no
urine and blood sample sent for
toxicology screening. “Samples of
gastric lavage (draining the stomach
contents), urine and blood samples
were done but not for the toxicology
screening,” he said.
Replying to another question on
post mortem, Sakthivello said that
normally, in medico-legal cases, if the
cause of death was known, the police
would not request for post mortem.
In Sujatha’s case, he said he was
unaware the police had requested for
a post mortem, until about a month
later. However, he said from medi-
cal records, one of Sujatha’s family
members had requested that no post
mortem be carried out.
Sakthiveloo agreed with Fernandis’
suggestion that if post mortem was
conducted, there would have been
conclusive evidence that Sujatha
died after consuming weedkiller.
He also told coroner Mohd Fauzi
Che Abu at all material times (a dura-
tion of five days), he was updated on
Sujatha’s medical condition and had
also closely monitored her progress.
Cross-examined by Kumaraen-
dran, Sakthiveloo said apart from him,
five other specialists had attended to
Sujatha at the Klang hospital. “Gener-
ally, they had the same opinion that
Sujatha had consumed paraquat
(weedkiller), based on local and
systemic effects on her body.”
He said the outcome would have
been the same if Sujatha was admit-
ted at the KLH.
The inquest continues on April 22.

MCA laments A-G’s double standard

PETALING JAYA: The decision
of the Attorney General’s (A-G)
office to institute criminal pro-
ceedings must be impartial and
be seen to be impartial, MCA
political education bureau head
Gan Ping Sieu said.
Drawing a comparison be-
tween action by the A-G’s office
against DAP national chairman
Karpal Singh and the non-action
against Bukit Bendera Umno
head Datuk Ahmad Ismail de-
spite a barrage of police reports
against the latter’s offensive
remarks about the Chinese com-
munity in the country, he said:
“The A-G’s office is a creation
of the Federal Constitution and
he is required to discharge his
functions conferred on him by or
under the Constitution and any
other written law. Any decision
on his part to institute criminal
proceedings must be impartial
and seen to be impartial.”
Gan said: “We are concerned
that his decision to charge Kar-
pal Singh with section 4(1)(b) of
the Secition Act 1948 may bring
disrepute to his office.”
“There have been many police
reports lodged against politicians
who made unwarranted racist
remarks on matters of public
concern, including police reports
lodged by MCA Penang against
Ahmad Ismail on his pendatang
and penumpang remarks, but no
action was taken.”
The proprietary to charge
Karpal Singh is questionable and
would only convey the percep-
tion of selective prosecution,
Gan said adding: “The A-G must
reconsider his decision.”

Tee Keat undecided on suing Pulai MCA chief

KUALA LUMPUR: MCA president
Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat has not
made up his mind on suing Pulai
chief Low Teh Hian for a remark that
questioned his moral value.
Ong told theSun in the Parlia-
ment lobby: “I will tell you that
ok?”
Oriental Daily News reported
on March 1 that Ong and Low had
gone to nightspots and drank liquor
together overseas some years
back.
Ong said he believed that once
Low received a legal notice, Low
would understand what is meant
by “having to take responsibility for
what one says”.