By G Vinod | July 27, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP national legal bureau chairman Gobind Singh Deo wants Attorney- General Abdul Gani Patail to explain why the three MACC officers found responsible for the death of Teoh Beng Hock cannot be charged under the Penal Code.

“If you can’t find anything under the Penal Code to charge them with, come debate with me and I will tell you how,” said Gobind.

Gobind said under the Federal Constitution, only the Attorney-General’s office has the power to prosecute anyone in a court for a criminal offence.

He was speaking at a forum attended by about 500 people at the Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall here yesterday.

Also present were Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang, its Youth chief Anthony Loke, PAS central working committee member Husam Musa and Teoh’s sister, Teoh Lee Lan.

Last week, Gani said that MACC should take disciplinary action against the three officers found to have driven Teoh to commit suicide by interrogating him aggressively in violation of the anti-graft agency’s regulations.

“If it refers to the standard operating procedure of the MACC, it becomes a matter of discipline and the three are to be dealt with by the disciplinary body of the Public Service Department.

“Interrogations with intent to derive information and in the process driving someone to commit suicide is different from doing so with the intent to make him commit suicide,” said Gani.

Gobind, who is also Puchong MP, said Teoh’s family and the public did not wait for two years just for the government to take disciplinary action against those responsible for Teoh’s death.

“Gani must inspire public confidence by acting on the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report and taking action against the three. If he fails, then he must resign,” said Gobind.

“Is this justice for Teoh?” asked Gobind, who received a resounding “no” from the audience.

‘BN leaders forgotten Islam’

He told the crowd that his team is now working on getting a judicial review on the report and would not back down till they get justice for Teoh’s family.

Husam told the crowd that he could not accept the RCI’s findings and it was everyone’s responsibility to see that justice is done for Teoh’s family.

“In Islam, it is said that when a man is killed, the whole of mankind is killed. Unfortunately, our Barisan Nasional leaders have forgotten this part of Islam,” he said.

Teoh, a political aide to Ean Yong, was found dead on the fifth floor corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam in July 2009, after he was questioned overnight by MACC officers at their-then Selangor office on the 14th floor.

A coroner’s inquest in January this year delivered an open verdict to his death, ruling out both suicide and homicide 18 months after Teoh’s untimely demise.