Najib’s denial is a lie

K Pragalath | February 16, 2013

PKR vice-president N Surendran and activist Latheefa Koya maintain their claim that the prime minister did stop Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand from coming here.

PETALING JAYA: PKR vice-president N Surendran and activist Latheefa Koya have reiterated that letters between the Thai Justice Ministry and renowned pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand proves that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak lied when he told the media that the Malaysian government did not stop Pornthip from conducting a post-mortem here.

The two lawyers who are representing the family of the late Sugumar, the 40-year-old security guard who was handcuffed and allegedly beaten to death by the police, said the government had prevented Pornthip from performing a second autopsy on Sugumar, who is yet to be buried although he died some two weeks ago.

“Pornthip had said that Thailand’s Ministry of Justice had informed her that there was communication from the Malaysian government on their displeasure against her, especially in her role in the earlier case of Teoh Beng Hock.

“In diplomatic language, this is a clear message from the Malaysian government that Pornthip is not welcome in Malaysia for purposes of the second autopsy on Sugumar,” they said in a press statement in response to Najib’s denial.

Yesterday, Najib refuted allegations that he prevented Pornthip, who is also a director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science at the Ministry of Justice, Bangkok, Thailand, from conducting a second post-mortem on Sugumar.

“It is not true… these are all fairy tales. Don’t listen to it. Not at all,” Najib was quoted as saying.

Sugumar was detained and allegedly beaten to death by four police personnel and a group of mob in Hulu Langat on Jan 21. The following day, a post-mortem conducted in Serdang Hospital concluded that Sugumar died of a heart attack.

The findings were disputed by the family who wants a second post-mortem. Surendran has been requesting for the second post-mortem to be conducted by Pornthip.

Surendran and Latheefa also claimed that there is a letter from the Thai Justice Ministry to Pornthip that clearly stated that the Malaysian government was against her conducting a second post-mortem on Sugumar.

“Najib’s denial is further contradicted by the existence of a letter from the Thai Ministry of Justice to Pornthip stating in effect that the Malaysian government was against her conducting the second autopsy. That letter was dated Feb 14 and was a follow-up to communications on this subject between the Malaysian and the Thai governments.

Surendran and Latheefa urged Najib to “immediately lift all diplomatic and administrative obstacles against the pathologist”.