MACC’s bluff exposed
NOV 19 — Whatever the Teoh Beng Hock inquest finally concludes, one fact has already been established: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was negligent or, at least, inept in keeping the political aide overnight as a witness.
Even before the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled today that witnesses can only be questioned during office hours, most reasonable Malaysians found it incredulous that anti-graft investigators had subjected Teoh to sleep-depriving interrogation, which began in the evening and went right through to early hours of the morning.
Following the discovery of his body outside their Selangor headquarters and to stanch the tide of criticism which followed, the MACC argued that its officers were allowed to question witnesses overnight.
During the inquest, a couple of MACC officials conceded that they kept Teoh on a tight leash because they were under pressure to complete the probe into the misuse of state funds by a DAP state assemblyman.
There were insinuations of a possible suicide although renowned Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanansunand thought otherwise. Her testimony has resulted in Teoh’s body being exhumed this weekend for another autopsy to establish the cause of his death – homicide or suicide.
But we had all long suspected that the MACC bent the law to suit their own needs in detaining Teoh, who was officially just a witness.
We suspected that the MACC paid scant attention to procedures in questioning Teoh because they usually pay scant attention to procedures.
Now we know that our hunch was spot on. The MACC had no business keeping Teoh beyond 5.30pm. He should have been allowed to go home.
Today’s High Court ruling has come too late for Teoh. It has come too late for his family, fiancée and unborn child. They are deprived of a son, a husband and a father respectively.
But the ruling will ensure that other witnesses do not suffer the same fate as the political aide.
Well, if all enforcement agencies follow the law, a law that not really a new law in the first place. MACC must itself learn to respect the law that it wants others to respect. Not to cover up is tracks like those that it seeks to ferret out in its fight against corruption.
NOV 19 — Whatever the Teoh Beng Hock inquest finally concludes, one fact has already been established: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was negligent or, at least, inept in keeping the political aide overnight as a witness.
Even before the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled today that witnesses can only be questioned during office hours, most reasonable Malaysians found it incredulous that anti-graft investigators had subjected Teoh to sleep-depriving interrogation, which began in the evening and went right through to early hours of the morning.
Following the discovery of his body outside their Selangor headquarters and to stanch the tide of criticism which followed, the MACC argued that its officers were allowed to question witnesses overnight.
During the inquest, a couple of MACC officials conceded that they kept Teoh on a tight leash because they were under pressure to complete the probe into the misuse of state funds by a DAP state assemblyman.
There were insinuations of a possible suicide although renowned Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanansunand thought otherwise. Her testimony has resulted in Teoh’s body being exhumed this weekend for another autopsy to establish the cause of his death – homicide or suicide.
But we had all long suspected that the MACC bent the law to suit their own needs in detaining Teoh, who was officially just a witness.
We suspected that the MACC paid scant attention to procedures in questioning Teoh because they usually pay scant attention to procedures.
Now we know that our hunch was spot on. The MACC had no business keeping Teoh beyond 5.30pm. He should have been allowed to go home.
Today’s High Court ruling has come too late for Teoh. It has come too late for his family, fiancée and unborn child. They are deprived of a son, a husband and a father respectively.
But the ruling will ensure that other witnesses do not suffer the same fate as the political aide.
Well, if all enforcement agencies follow the law, a law that not really a new law in the first place. MACC must itself learn to respect the law that it wants others to respect. Not to cover up is tracks like those that it seeks to ferret out in its fight against corruption.
19/11/09
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