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The beautiful 5
politician pg1
No DNA
match
by S.Tamarai Chelvi
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
UALA LUMPUR: The DNA
K
samples taken from Kajang
councillor Tan Boon Wah and
technician Lee Wye Wing do
not match the unknown DNA found
on political aide Teoh Beng Hock’s
blazer and belt.
This was revealed by lawyer
Gobind Singh Deo on the second day
of the inquest into the death of Teoh
who was found sprawled on a cor-
ridor of Plaza Masalam
on July 16, where the
Selangor Malaysian TEOH
Anti-Corruption Com-
mission (MACC)’s BENG
office is located.
Gobind said this HOCK
in response to Tan
Hock Chuan, who is
inquest
assisting in the inquest,
who said in the afternoon that 97 wit-
nesses, including three chemists and
three pathologists would be called to
testify (photo page 4).
Hock Chuan, who is representing
the government, said the second
DNA report has been completed and
a copy given to the lawyers.
“Swab samples were taken from
157 individuals for analysis with
the DNA swab found behind Teoh’s
blazer and belt. Swab samples taken
include those from Selangor MACC
staff, police personnel involved in
the investigation, Forensic Depart-
ment personnel, office cleaners and
two individuals (Tan and Lee),” said
Member of Audit Bureau of Circulations (Malaysia)
» MACC commissioner gets death threat pg4 » Answering the call of politics pg10-11
Hock Chuan, a lawyer.
Yesterday’s inquest started at
9.10am. The first of six people to
testify was security guard Siti
Zabedah Yahya who first spotted
Teoh’s body. She said she went to
the storeroom of her office during
lunch break at 1.10pm on July 16 as
she was fasting.
“After 20 minutes, I got up to close
the windows. I looked down and I
saw a man lying near the fifth floor
corridor. I didn’t know whether the
man was lying (down) or
fainted.
“I took a screw
(from a table) and
dropped it to wake
the person. The man
did not move. After
five minutes, he did
not get up. (Then)
I called my friend,”
she said, adding that
she alerted Mohd
Ridzuan Samsuri of the building’s
maintenance department.
Ridzuan, who testified that he was
in a restaurant on Level Two, rushed
to the site with colleague Rosli Salleh.
“From afar, a man was lying in a sus-
picious manner. I went near and he
was covered with blood. I ran away
as I panicked,” said Ridzuan.
He said he alerted his superior and
the security personnel on his walkie-
talkie. He said he saw the deceased
wearing a blazer and white pants. He
said the man’s knee had dried blood.
During examination by Gobind,
Ridzuan said the man’s pants were
TELLING IT AS IT IS
AFPPIX
torn and there was blood.
He also said the MACC office is
located on the 14th floor and part of
the 15th floor is also used by them.
Third witness senior secu-
rity officer Mohd Khairul Izwan M.
Nasir testified that about 1.50pm, he
received a call on his walkie-talkie
from Ridzuan and Rosli about the
body.
He said he saw a fair skinned man
lying on his abdomen and covered
the body with a black plastic sheet.
Questioned by Gobind and shown
a photograph of Teoh’s body, Khairul
said he was not sure if the inside of a
pocket was exposed (as in the picture)
when he first saw the body.
Another security guard, Wan Rosli
Wan Adam, said he was on duty from
8pm on July 15 to 8am on July 16.
When Gobind asked if it is normal
for MACC officers to work till the
early hours of the morning, he said
the officers worked round the clock.
Another security guard at Plaza
Masalam, Abdul Rahman Rahim,
testified that he did not record who
came in and out of the building on
that day.
The inquest before Azmil
Muntapha Abas continues.
2009 AWARDS
Award winning newspaper
for excellence in
investigative reporting
No. 4818 PP 2644/12/2009 (023092)
Thursday
August 6, 2009
www.sun2surf.com
Tens of thousands
bid Aquino farewell
MANILA: At least 150,000 people
took to the rain-soaked streets
yesterday to bid farewell to former
president Corazon Aquino, whose
“People Power” democracy
movement ended decades of
dictatorship.
Aquino, who died aged 76 after
a long battle with cancer, was
buried in a private ceremony after a
long funeral procession skirting the
city’s gleaming business towers and
teeming shantytowns.
With a national holiday called as
part of 10 days of official mourning,
thousands surrounded her coffin
as it left Manila Cathedral following
a mass just before noon draped
in the national flag. Eight police
officers in full dress uniform served
as pall-bearers, carrying the casket
to a flat-bed truck festooned with
yellow and white flowers.
By mid-afternoon, police told
reporters 150,000 people lined the
18km route from the cathedral to the
cemetery where she was laid to rest.
eXtra
It took over four hours for the vehicle
to travel just one third of the route.
Millions more, including from
the 8.7-million-strong overseas
Filipino community, monitored the
progress of the cortege on television
and Internet streaming sites.
“She made me proud again to be a
Filipino,” said Father Catalino Arevalo,
recalling Aquino’s bloodless triumph
against the 20-year dictatorship of
Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, three
years after her husband Benigno’s
assassination.
Men and women standing at least
10-deep on both sides of the road
openly wept as the truck crawled
through the swelling crowd, while
military helicopters circled overhead,
showering them with yellow confetti.
People in buildings lining Manila’s
streets opened their windows, hung
yellow banners and dropped confetti
onto the sea of mourners below. A
crowd of nuns released white doves
and yellow balloons – yellow was
Aquino’s signature colour. – AFP