[The Malaysian Insider] Teoh’s kin slam MACC’s ‘insincere’ remarks

July 16, 2010

~ By Debra Chong

Lee Lan (right) is consoled after being overcome by emotions during a prayer ceremony at Plaza Masalam, July 16, 2010. — Pictures by Choo Choy May

SHAH ALAM, July 16 — Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Datuk Seri Abu Kassim Mohamed’s attempt to appease Teoh Beng Hock’s grief-stricken family in an open letter ahead of his first death anniversary today has backfired.

Beng Hock’s younger sister, Lee Lan, slammed Abu Kassim today for his “insincere” effort.

“What he said is just a front, for image only, but actually he did not do what he said in the statement,” she told reporters here after offering prayers for her brother’s soul at his death site.

Beng Hock’s family heads to the fifth-floor of Plaza Masalam, where the political secretary’s body was found exactly one year ago today.

The MACC head had yesterday issued a statement expressing his sympathy for the family and pledged he will not “compromise or cover up the actions of any culprit or anyone found potentially involved in the death of Teoh Beng Hock”.

The statement was made available only in Mandarin.

“If he is sincere, please find the one who did the thing, [and] not ask the MACC lawyer to do whatever to stop people being charged,” Lee Lan said.

She claimed its lawyer, Datuk Abdul Razak Musa, had repeatedly tried to block the family’s pursuit of truth in the coroner’s court, noting his many objections against admitting Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand’s evidence at the inquest.

The director-general of Thailand’s Central Institute of Forensic Science is the only forensic expert on record to support the family’s conviction that Beng Hock’s death resulted from foul play.

Four other pathologists — including the MACC’s hired British expert, Dr Peter Vanezis — concluded Beng Hock committed suicide by jumping from a high place.

The 30-year-old political secretary to Selangor state councillor, Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead last year on a fifth-floor corridor at Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam, nine floors below the MACC’s Selangor headquarters, a year ago today.

He had been interrogated overnight by anti-graft officers probing claims his boss was misusing state funds.

Lee Lan, now 30, also chided Abu Kassim for forgetting the actions of certain MACC officers who had in January this year lodged several police reports against Dr Pornthip.

The Teohs bow to thank some 50 members of the public and DAP partymen who turned up at Plaza Masalam to express support.

“Please understand what your staff do,” urged the accounting executive.

She questioned the MACC’s latest attempt to prolong the inquest by applying for four more witnesses to be called, claiming they were not vital to discovering the truth behind her brother’s death.

“Please don’t damage my brother’s reputation anymore,” Lee Lan pleaded, reminding Abu Kassim that the MACC has also acknowledged her brother was only a witness to an investigation on alleged misuse of state funds — and not a suspect.

She said she was not the MACC’s boss and could not tell the commission to drop its court application to question the four — believed to be businessmen whose names were found on several invoices recorded in Beng Hock’s laptop.

“[But] I think he’s a clever person. He knows what to do to show his sincerity. He has to do something to prove it,” Lee Lan stressed.

Her parents and other siblings, who live in Malacca, had earlier held a short prayer ceremony on the fifth-floor of Plaza Masalam, which had previously housed the MACC Selangor’s headquarters.

The anti-graft body has since shifted out of the premises, to new offices in the nearby Plaza PKNS.

Taken from The Malaysian Insider.