DAP has written to the attorney general (AG) and urged him to instruct the police to reinvestigate Teoh Beng Hock’s death for murder rather than wrongful confinement, said Lim Guan Eng.
The DAP secretary-general said he personally drafted the letter sent to Tommy Thomas on Tuesday after learning that the police were directed to focus their new probe on unlawful detention despite indications of homicide in Teoh’s 2009 death.
“I am surprised that instead of reopening investigations, the police are investigating instead under Section 342 of the Penal Code, which deals with wrongful confinement, as instructed by the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC).
“Following this development, I had written another letter to Tommy Thomas on June 25, 2019, and we are awaiting his reply,” Lim said in his statement.
Critics have questioned why the case was reopened under Section 342, which is a milder offence compared to the Court of Appeal’s finding in a civil case which concluded that one or more unknown persons, including MACC officers, caused Teoh’s death.
Therefore, they argue that the case should be investigated under Section 304 of the Penal Code for culpable homicide.
Lim, who is also finance minister, said he had first written to Thomas on Nov 23, 2018, requesting that the case into Teoh’s death be reopened following the cabinet’s decision, on June 20 last year, for this to be done.
“The attorney-general had replied in a letter on Dec 4, 2018, that he had written to the inspector-general of police on July 17, 2018, to do so accordingly.
“In his reply, the attorney-general regretted that there was no progress and said he would press the police to continue with the investigations,” Lim said.
He added that there was no progress despite the issue being raised in the cabinet on various occasions.
“Despite the matter being brought up in cabinet several times, the last occasion on May 15, 2019, there was still no new development,” he said.
Lim said unearthing all the facts of Teoh’s death was of public importance and pledged his party’s support and sympathy for the latter’s family.
Teoh, who had been a political aide to then-Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam in 2009.
His body was discovered after he was interrogated for hours by the Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on the 14th floor of the building.
A Royal Commission of Inquiry held over the matter later concluded that Teoh committed suicide due to the aggressive interrogation methods by the MACC officers.
In 2014, the Court of Appeal overturned the coroner’s open verdict on Teoh’s death, ruling instead that the latter died from a fall that could have been accelerated by unlawful actions of persons unknown, including by MACC officers.
Following the verdict, MACC agreed to pay RM600,000 to Teoh’s family to settle a negligence suit they brought against the commission.
The court also ordered the police to investigate the death.
However, at that time, the Attorney-General’s Chambers found no criminal elements in his death.
It was reported last year that the police will conduct further investigations into Teoh’s death after being instructed to do so by the AGC.
The three MACC officers implicated in Teoh’s death were never directly prosecuted and two also received promotions after the incident.
Meanwhile, Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo today sought to allay concerns over remarks by Muhyiddin Yassin suggesting that Teoh’s family was making unreasonable demands for compensation.
Muhyiddin, the home minister, drew criticism after he said that the government had exhausted all legal avenues in relation to the case, including setting up a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) and paying the family compensation.
Gobind said Muhyiddin’s remarks were his personal view.
“I know Muhyiddin said a few things, but those are his views.
“The person who will make the final decision will be the attorney-general,” he told reporters.
Gobind said police investigations would continue as decided by the Cabinet.
“Let’s wait for the attorney-general to announce and then we’ll take it from there,” he said.