By Teoh El Sen | July 27, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

PETALING JAYA: DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang yesterday urged police to re-open investigations into the death of former political aide Teoh Beng Hock based on four new “leads” that the recently released Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report revealed.

Lim, the Ipoh Timor MP, said police should be investigating Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers for perjury based on the report’s finding that named most of the
MACC officers as “liars”.

“Apart from two brave and truthful souls from Selangor MACC – Azeem Hafeez Jamaluddin and Azian Umar – the report virtually dismissed the rest as a pack of liars led by (then Selangor MACC deputy director) Hishamuddin Hashim, the “mastermind” of the massive and unjustified operation which resulted in Teoh’s death,” he said.

(Azian and Azeem were lauded as brave in the report as their testimony had supported the finding that MACC officers had been instructed to lie by their superiors.)

Lim said the report’s “most scathing… indictment of the character and testimony” of the officers is “fertile source for the formulation of multiple perjury charges against Hishamuddin and other MACC officers in giving false testimony at the RCI”. Under Section 193 of the Penal Code, this provides for a maximum sentence of seven years jail and fine on conviction.

Lim, speaking at the “Teoh Beng Hock Royal Commission Inquiry Report – Where is the promised truth?” forum last night, challenged Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail to arrest and charge Hishamuddin based on the following paragraph in the report:

“The evidence adduced showed that the MACC officers were prepared to go to great lengths to lie. One glaring example is that of Hishamuddin, a very senior officer, who was overall in charge of
operations on that fateful 15th evening and spilling over into the early hours of the morning of the16th. In testimony before us, he was adamant in his stand that he had no knowledge whatsoever that complaints of assault and use of force had been lodged against the officers under his charge with the police. However, his lie was exposed with startling clarity when DSP Kamaruddin Ismail from the Selangor police produced a letter written by Hishamuddin himself in 2008 responding to police inquiries in relation to the complaints of assault and related abuses of power that had been lodged against MACC officers under his command.”

Lim said that based on this paragraph alone, a charge could be framed against Hishamuddin.

‘A pack of liars

He added that the RCI could not have been more condemnatory of Mohd Anuar Ismail, who was appointed investigating officer of the operation by Hishamuddin.

Lim quoted another paragraph from the report, which said:“Anuar lied about the role he played in order to cover up for HH. And on top of these factors, he was a trusted senior officer of Hishamuddin who was prepared to sacrifice himself for Hishamuddin…”

Calling MACC Selangor officers “a pack of liars” (apart from Azeem and Azian), Lim said the RCI report findings meant that “they had lied all the way from the initial police investigations into Teoh’s death to the inquest and the RCI about what happened to Teoh on the fateful days of July 15 and 16, 2009″.

“This means their earlier statements given were untrue, worthless and must be rejected – justifying a re-opening of police investigations into Teoh’s death,” said Lim.

He added that the “second lead” he had for the police was the revelation of a new “fourth interrogation” that the RCI postulated had happened to Teoh between 3.30am and 7am that day and which had “propelled Teoh to commit suicide”.

“Police investigations into Teoh’s death never knew about this ‘fourth interrogation’… in fact, police should also investigate whether there was a ‘fifth’ interrogation between 7am and 11 am,” Lim said.

He also said that the report had fingered Hishamuddin as the “mastermind” in the “host of criminalities and breaches of the law in the massive operation resulting in Teoh’s death”.

“Hishamuddin blatantly abused his powers when he launched the massive 33-officer operation which resulted in Teoh’s death ‘solely on a mere belief and without supporting facts’ and based on a ‘mere’ telephone call,” Lim said.

‘Black blog’

He quoted another paragraph in the report, which read: “We found him (Hishamuddin) to be arrogant, given to falsehoods, untruthful and uncompromising in his stand. His falsehoods, particularly of his non-active involvement in the entire operation at the material time, were exposed from the contradictory statements he made before us…”

Lim said based on this third lead, the police should find out who gave Hishamuddin such a sense of immunity and impunity.

Meanwhile, he also urged the police to investigate a blog which surfaced after Teoh’s death, blaming DAP for his death.

Calling it the “black blog”, he said that the website was most probably the work of the people “responsible of killing him”.

Lim said the blog had the “finger prints of MACC” as it contained documents related to Teoh investigations, which are only in the possession of MACC.

“Police investigation into who was behind the ‘black blog’ would probably have found Teoh’s killers as well.”

Teoh, 30, was found dead on July 16, 2009, on the fifth floor corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam after being questioned overnight by MACC officers at their then-Selangor headquarters on the 14th floor.

Teoh was a witness in the MACC’s investigations into alleged misuse of state funds by his former boss, Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah. MACC had later cleared Ean Yong of any offences, citing insufficient evidence.

An inquest was called but it returned an open verdict. Subsequently, the RCI was formed, which recently released its report. The RCI had unanimously found that Teoh was driven to suicide after
coming under aggressive and continuous questioning from MACC officers.

Three MACC officers in charge of interrogating Teoh – Hishamuddin, Anuar, and Mohd Ashraf Mohd Yunus – are under investigation and have been suspended. However, the MACC said yesterday that other officers would not be penalised.