KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 16 – The Attorney-General (AG) should withdraw his application to revise the ‘open verdict’ in Teoh Beng Hock inquest to ensure public confidence in the ongoing Royal Commission of Inquest (RCI) into the political aide’s death, Lim Kit Siang (pic) said today.
The DAP parliamentary leader said Malaysians could not be sure of the RCI’s independence as its conducting officers worked for the AG’s Chambers (AGC), which he said wanted to “exonerate” the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) from Teoh’s death.
“How can anyone have confidence in the independence and professionalism of the Teoh Beng Hock RCI when, on the one hand, officers from the AG’s Chambers are responsible for the conduct of the RCI while, on the other hand, the Attorney-General is actively seeking a revision of the “Open Verdict” of the Teoh Beng Hock inquest?” Lim said in a statement today.
He stressed that it was very likely that the AG was seeking to overturn the “open verdict” returned by the coroner in favour of “death by suicide”, saying no one would believe that the AG was pushing for “death by homicide”.
Senior federal counsel Amarjeet Singh and deputy public prosecutors (DPPs) Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud and Kwan Li Sa were appointed as conducting officers to help submit evidence and witnesses to the RCI.
The Teoh family pulled out of proceedings earlier today following the royal panel’s decision to continue the inquiry despite a proposed judicial review over its appointment of conducting officers.
The panel also decided that chairman Tan Sri James Foong Cheng Yuen need not recuse himself despite being a sitting Federal Court judge.
DAP chief Karpal Singh, who is counsel for the Teohs, said that the family would withdraw so as not to lend legitimacy to the commission.
The family believe that the AG is seeking to revise the coroner’s ‘open verdict’ to one of suicide and claim that this would lead to bias by the DPPs.
The coroner’s inquest had ruled out both suicide and homicide in Teoh’s fatal July 16, 2009 plunge, after an overnight interrogation by the MACC.
Karpal said it was “inconsistent” for the AGC to seek such a revision while insisting that its officers involved in the commission were independent.
He said the family would likely not proceed with the judicial review, although The Malaysian Insider understands that a final decision has yet to be made.
The Teoh family, however, will continue to participate in the AGC’s revision of the inquest decision, which will come up for mention tomorrow.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak formed the RCI last month following public uproar over Coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas’s verdict at the end of a 17-month inquest, which ruled out both homicide and suicide.
Azmil had said he could not find enough evidence to confirm that Teoh’s pre-fall injuries had contributed to the 30-year-old’s death outside the MACC’s then Selangor headquarters in Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam, on July 16, 2009.
The coroner, however, had raised doubt over whether Teoh could have exited unaided from the window on the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam before his fatal plunge following an overnight interrogation by MACC officers.
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