By Debra Chong | The Malaysian Insider
July 15, 2010
KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 — In a move to placate Teoh Beng Hock’s family ahead of his one-year death anniversary tomorrow, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Datuk Seri Abu Kassim Mohamed pledged today not to “cover up” the actions of anyone who maybe found involved in causing the DAP political aide’s death.
“The MACC will not compromise or cover up the actions of any culprit or anyone found potentially involved in the death of Teoh Beng Hock,” the nation’s top graft fighter said today in a brief statement addressed to the Teohs.
The statement was issued only in Chinese.
The 30-year-old political secretary to Selangor state councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah was found dead last year on a 5th-floor corridor at Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam, nine floors below the MACC’s Selangor headquarters.
He had been interrogated overnight by anti-graft officers probing claims his boss was misusing state funds.
“I want to emphasise that we will respect whatever decision that comes out of the coroner’s court,” Abu Kassim stressed, adding he hoped the inquest will come to an end soon.
In the statement penned in Chinese, Abu Kassim also expressed his sympathy with the Teohs.
“On behalf of myself and all MACC staff, regarding the matter of what happened on July 16, 2009, we grieve with Teoh Beng Hock’s family.
“We continue to also feel their hurt and sadness. As a father and head of my own family, I can deeply understand the incomparable pain in losing a family member,” said the man who took up his current job from the first embattled MACC head, Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan, in January this year.
Abu Kassim highlighted that the MACC had taken steps to tighten security during questioning of its witnesses “to ensure there will be no repeat of such an incident”.
Beng Hock’s younger sister, Lee Lan, told The Malaysian Insider today she had not read the MACC statement and would respond to it at a public talk organised by the DAP at the KL-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall here tomorrow night.
She said she had only been alerted to the news by a reporter from a Chinese newspaper.
The MACC statement was not available in Bahasa Malaysia or English.