The investigation into the death of former political aide Teoh Beng Hock must be concluded within a proportionate timeframe and not drag on, said lawyer Ramkarpal Singh Deo.
Ramkarpal, who represented Beng Hock’s parents Teoh Leong Hwee and Teng Shuew Hoi, said this in response to the defence arguing that police do not need a specific timeline to complete a certain investigation.
“We have taken the position that there must be some finality. Otherwise, you will go on for another 10, 15 years, which is certainly unacceptable.
“Anyway, that’s our argument. It’s for the court to decide,” he told reporters at the entrance of the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex.
Beng Hock’s parents are pursuing legal action to compel the police to conduct a thorough inquiry into their son’s death while under MACC custody in 2009.
In their legal filing, they named three parties as respondents – the federal government, the inspector-general of police, and the head of the criminal investigations unit at police headquarters.
Additionally, the parents are requesting the court to make several official declarations including that law enforcement failed in their duty by not concluding the investigation within an acceptable timeframe.
The case is in the final stages, with Ramkarpal saying that the court needed some final clarification before making a judgment.
Judge Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh set the date for the final decision on Oct 29.
Asked about Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s announcement that the investigation papers are with the Attorney-General’s Chambers, rendering a judicial review academic, Ramkarpal replied in the negative as the cabinet member is not involved with the investigation process.
“Hence, the reason the police have been made a party to this. So, I think we can only go with what the police have said in the affidavit,” he said.
According to Teng’s affidavit, she claimed the law enforcement agency had failed to properly investigate Beng Hock’s death, despite a favourable 2014 Court of Appeal ruling for the family.
She noted that the police had established three separate investigative teams – in 2011, 2014 and 2018 – ostensibly to examine the death. The most recent update on the investigation progress was provided in 2021.
In 2014, a three-member Court of Appeal panel concluded that Beng Hock’s death resulted from actions by unknown individuals, potentially including MACC officers who had interrogated him overnight before his body was discovered.
Additionally, the High Court recorded an out-of-court settlement, awarding the family RM600,000 in damages for negligence.
Beng Hock, who was a political aide to then-Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on July 16, 2009, on the fifth-floor service corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam.
He had been held and questioned overnight by the MACC, whose Selangor headquarters at the time were located on the building’s 14th floor.
A royal commission of inquiry in 2011 determined that Beng Hock had been driven to suicide due to MACC’s aggressive interrogation tactics. – Malaysiakini