By Melissa Chi
July 23, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — Lim Kit Siang today demanded the Attorney-General and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) explain why no action has been taken against the three graftbusters implicated by the Teoh Beng Hock royal commission of inquiry (RCI).

“AG and MACC should explain why three MACC officers Hishammuddin (Hashim), Arman (Alies) and (Mohd) Ashraf (Mohd Yunus) have not been suspended and no criminal charges and departmental disciplinary action taken against them despite RCI report holding them responsible for Teoh Beng Hock’s death,” the DAP parliamentary leader said in a statement.

The inquiry into Teoh’s death ruled that the former DAP aide had committed suicide as a result of pressure from aggressive and prolonged questioning by MACC officers.

The officers had wanted to pressure Teoh into becoming a witness in their case against his boss, Seri Kembangan assemblyman Ean Yong Hian Wah, for alleged abuse of public funds.

Teoh was found dead on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam on July 16, 2009, after being questioned overnight at the then-Selangor MACC headquarters on the 14th floor of the building.

“Clearly MACC and MACC officers were responsible for his death at MACC headquarters at Shah Alam on July 16, 2009 through ‘aggressive, relentless, oppressive and unscrupulous interrogation’.

“What is unacceptable about the TBH RCI report is its failure to clearly and unmistakably state in its conclusion that MACC and MACC officers were responsible for Beng Hock’s death, although it is clear from the report that the commissioners agree that the MACC and MACC officers were responsible for Beng Hock’s death,” Lim said.

The RCI found three MACC investigating officers involved in the case to have used “continuous, aggressive and improper questioning tactics on [Teoh] which had breached its existing standard operating procedures”.

It recommended that action be taken specifically against the three MACC officers.

Lim today acknowledged the MACC as one of the most important law enforcement agencies in the country, “but anyone reading the TBH RCI report cannot escape getting the impression that the MACC, particularly in Selangor, was utterly lawless as it had become a den of criminals with MACC officers blatantly subverting the law”.

“Furthermore, the TBH RCI have virtually dismissed the whole cast of MACC witnesses at the RCI (except for two ‘brave’ souls Azeem and Azian) as liars, which means they had all committed perjury.

“Section 193 of Penal Code prescribes seven years jail and fine for giving false evidence at judicial proceeding like the TBH RCI,” he pointed out.

RCI chairman Tan Sri James Foong Cheng Yuen submitted on June 22 the report by the RCI into Teoh’s death two years ago, which was made public yesterday.