4 theSun | WEDNESDAY JULY 29 2009

news without borders

Teoh’s inquest starts today, 77 subpoenaed

by Karen Arukesamy
and Charles Ramendran
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
SHAH ALAM: A coroner’s inquest
into the death of political aide Teoh
Beng Hock kicks off at the magis-
trate’s court today, amidst calls for
a Royal Commission of Inquiry to do
the job.
Subpoenas have been sent out
to 77 people to appear as witnesses
in the inquest to be conducted by a
magistrate sitting as coroner, over
the next two weeks.
Police said yesterday subpoenas
had been sent to 77 witnesses whom
they have interviewed in the investi-
gations into Teoh’s death.
Selangor police chief DCP Datuk
Khalid Abu Bakar said out of the 77
subpoenaed, 28 are Malaysian Anti
Corruption Commission (MACC)
personnel.
He said it is up to the coroner’s
court to decide who among those
subpoenaed are required to give
their testimony.
At a press conference at the Selan-
gor contingent police headquarters
at 1pm yesterday, he said police have
received a toxicology report of the
specimens gathered by investigators
from the Chemistry Department.
He said the post mortem and
forensics reports from pathologists
and other experts would be obtained
by the end of the day.
Asked on the findings of their
probe, Khalid said police are unable
to reveal the outcome of investiga-
tions and would let the inquest an-
nounce its findings.
Khalid said although the probe
has been wrapped up and the case
remains classified as a sudden death,
should new evidence or information
emerge from experts or other wit-
nesses in the inquest, police will not
hesitate to reclassify it accordingly.
“We urge those who have more
information on the case to come
forward and speak to us.”
Asked if police are stepping up
security at the court house in the
event of a protest being mounted by
certain quarters, he said he did not
see why the police should as it is a
court proceeding.
“Why would anyone in their
right mind want to hold a protest
at the inquest? However, if the need
ever arises for more personnel to be
stationed there, the police are always
ready,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bar Council presi-
dent Ragunath Kesavan told theSun
an inquest is required under the law
when there is “death in custody” and
the findings will be made public.
“The coroner will conduct his
inquest based on the investigation
report and will call in the people
for inquiry from the list of names
presented by the police.”
Ragunath said the shortcomings
of an inquest are that the “coroner is
alone, he may not have the expertise
and his powers are limited”.
“He has no power to order for
an independent investigation to be
carried and has to rely on the police’s
findings.”
He said without an independent
investigation, the coroner would not
know what are the documents in-
volved and therefore cannot demand
to view the documents.
“From the past experience in all
the inquests we have had in Malaysia,
the results are unsatisfactory. There
is insufficient probe and inquiry, and
also the element of the withholding
of information,” Ragunath said.
That is why, he said, it is important
that a Royal Commission of Inquiry
is set up because the commission
can be bigger and have experts
from relevant fields to conduct the
inquiry.
“In this case, the coroner’s con-
clusion based on the information
provided will also be limited.”
On July 22, the cabinet decided
that the inquest be conducted into
the sudden death of Teoh, 30, the po-
litical secretary of Seri Kembangan
assemblyman Ean Yong Hian Wah.
Teoh was found dead on the
rooftop on the fifth floor of the
building adjacent to Plaza Masalam,
which houses the Selangor Malay-
sian Anti-Corruption Commission
office, on July 16.
He had been called in as a witness
to assist MACC’s investigations and
was questioned for more than 10
hours from 5pm on July 15 to 3.45am
the next day.
Lawyers Karpal Singh and Gobind
Singh Deo will represent Teoh’s fam-
ily at the inquest while the Selangor
government will be represented by
human rights lawyer Malik Imtiaz
Sarwar.

PR leaders to seek
audience with king
by Hemananthani Sivanandam
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Rakyat
leaders yesterday said they would
seek an audience with the Yang di-
Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal
Abidin to discuss several issues
including the establishment of a
Royal Commission of Inquiry (RC) into
the death of political aide Teoh Beng
Hock.
“We don’t want the monarch to
be insulted at the establishment of a
Royal Commission that does not fulfil
its requirements,” Pakatan Rakyat
(PR) leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
said after a PR leadership meeting
yesterday.
DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang said
an RC was more appropriate than an
inquest to seek justice for the death
of Teoh, whose body was found on the
5th floor of Plaza Masalam, whose 14th
floor houses offices of the Malaysian
Anti-Corruption Commission, two
weeks ago.
Lim said it was wrong for Attorney-
General Tan Sri Gani Patail to say an
RC could not be used, as the matter in
question was one of public interest.
“We hope the coroner’s inquest
will be stopped and the cabinet will
today decide to widen the commis-
sion’s scope to include investigating
the cause and circumstances leading
to Teoh’s death,” Lim said.
Anwar said the PR also calls on
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri
Musa Hassan to step down and not
seek to renew his tenure of service,
considering the country’s escalating
crime rate.
“We’re sure there are people of
better calibre who can take his place,
who can do a better job and improve
the service of the force,” he said.
Anwar said that in a recent in-
ternet poll conducted by the Home
Ministry, 97% of respondents said the
high crime rate did not make them
feel safe.
He also said he hoped to meet
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul
Razak to discuss the abolition of the
Internal Security Act before a rally Child models ... Children take part in a beauty and modeling contest in Hefei, in eastern China’s Anhui
organised by the Movement for the province, on Monday. Beauty pageants were once considered reviled displays of western decadence but have become big
Abolition of the ISA on Saturday. business in Communist-ruled China following more than two decades of economic reforms.

Najib meets Beng Hock’s family Fraud uncovered

PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri
Najib Abdul Razak yesterday met the
family of the late Teoh Beng Hock and
gave the assurance that every effort
would be made to find out the cause of
the political aide’s death.
Present at the meeting, held at the
invitation of the prime minister at the
Prime Minister’s Office, were Beng
Hock’s father, Leong Hwee, 62, mother
Teng Shuw Hor, elder brother Beng Kee,
younger sister Lee Lan and fiancee Soh
Cher Wei.
Najib again conveyed his sympathies
and heartfelt condolences to the family.
He told them that he himself and the
whole cabinet viewed the sudden death
of Beng Hock with grave concern.
“No stone will be left unturned in
finding out the real cause of death and, if
there is any foul play, action will definitely
be taken,” Najib told the next-of-kin dur-
ing the 30-minute meeting from 7.30pm.
Beng Hock, 30, was found dead on
the fifth floor corridor of Plaza Masalam
in Shah Alam on July 16 after being in-
terviewed as a witness by the Malaysian
Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC),
located on the 14th floor of the same
building, in connection with allegations
that certain Selangor assemblymen had
misused constituency funds.
He was the political aide of Selangor
exco member Ean Yong Hian Wah.
Najib also explained to Beng Hock’s
family that the setting up of a Royal
Commission of Inquiry and the inquest
actually constituted a two-pronged
approach to find out the real cause of
the unfortunate incident.
The inquest is a mandatory require-
ment of the law for cases of this nature
involving sudden death and the royal
commission of inquiry was set up for
the purpose of looking into the proce-
dural aspects of the MACC in carrying
out investigations.
Najib told the family the inquiry and
inquest would surely find out whether
any aspect as well as other measures
taken could have been related to or led
to the tragic incident.
In any case, the findings of the inquest
would also be considered as an input for
the Royal Commission of inquiry, said Na-
jib, adding that the two-pronged approach
would, therefore, hopefully arrive at the
truth in a fair and just manner.
In response to the Teoh family’s
request that the unborn child of Beng
Hock be allowed to carry the surname of
Teoh after birth, the prime minister said
he would ask the attorney-general and
the relevant government departments
to find a solution.
Soh, 28, a school teacher from
Semenyih, is two months pregnant.
Beng Hock was to have registered his
marriage to Soh on July 17.
A relative of Beng Hock, former DAP
secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock, was
also present at the meeting. – Bernama
in JKKKs
by Tan Yi Liang
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
SHAH ALAM: Two cases of sus-
pected fraud have been uncov-
ered in two Village Development
and Safety Committees (JKKK),
Selangor executive councillor
for new village development
Ean Yong Hian Wah said.
He said in one case, it was
found that the former chair-
man of a JKKK had persuaded
the secretary in Sept 2005 to
transfer RM90,000 from the
JKKK account to a fixed deposit
account under the names of
the chairman, his brother and
the secretary, ostensibly to
earn higher interest.
The secretary had later
in December the same year
lodged a police report claiming
he was being pressured by the
chairman and his brother to sign
for the withdrawal of the fixed
deposit although they did not
agree the funds be transferred
back to the JKKK account.
Ean Yong said the new
chairman of the JKKK branch
had in October last year lodged
a report on the matter with the
ACA (now Malaysian Anti-Cor-
ruption Commission) to recover
the RM90,000.
He said the MACC replied on
Jan 8 that the details had been
passed on to the police as it is
out of the ambit of the agency
to investigate the case.
“The state government is
still awaiting the outcome of
investigations.”
Ean Yong said the state gov-
ernment is also looking into a
case where another JKKK com-
mittee had collected RM150
from over 500 households in
Kampung Bagan Sungai Besar
in May 2001, ostensibly to
make an application to trans-
fer the land from Temporary
Occupation Licence (TOL) to
permanent ownership.
“An application for owner-
ship of land should only cost
RM50, so we want to know
what happened to the remain-
ing RM100 collected from the
residents.
“There has been no answer
up to today from the former
JKKK chairman,” he said.