MACC had ‘every reason to lie’ in Beng Hock case, court told

KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 ― Evidence provided by local graftbusters in Teoh Beng Hock’s death probe should be treated with caution as they were “suspects” in the case and had every reason to lie, lawyer Gobind Singh Deo told the Court of Appeal today.

Earlier, Gobind, who is Teoh's family lawyer, reminded the court that officers from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had questioned the young DAP aide overnight before he was found dead in 2009.

“In our submission, the evidence given by MACC ought to be viewed with caution. These were the suspects, they have every reason to lie to save their skins,” he told a three-man panel at the Court of Appeal today.

The Court of Appeal is reviewing the decision by the Coroner's Court in 2010, which had delivered an open verdict, ruling that Teoh's death was not a homicide or a suicide.

Earlier during his submission, Gobind also told the court that MACC officer Mohd Anuar Ismail did not act consistently with one who was in “shock” when he discovered the body of Teoh lying on the fifth floor of the Selangor MACC headquarters.

As the officer who had took Teoh back to the Selangor MACC headquarters and kept him there overnight, Gobind questioned Anuar's reaction, describing it as “conduct” that was “very strange”.

According to Gobind, Anuar had looked on Teoh's body from afar, but did not come down to check if he was still alive.

Knowing that he is responsible for Teoh as the person in charge then, Anuar should have quickly secured or cordoned the body and asked MACC officers to clear the 14th floor from which the man fell, Gobind argued.

Anuar should have also called Teoh's family and lawyer, he said.

Pointing out that the police came to the Selangor MACC headquarters about three hours later to conduct forensic tests, Gobind pointed out that the integrity of the crime scene would have been at risk.

“That was enough time, more than enough time for the scene to be contaminated,” he said.

The Court of Appeal panel is chaired by Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, and includes judges Datuk Mah Weng Kwai and Datuk Haji Hamid Sultan Abu Baker.

This morning, government lawyer DPP Mohamad Abazafree Mohd Abbas was quizzed over who had penned the suicide note in Teoh's bag that the former DAP aide had allegedly written.

Abazafree said there was “credible evidence” to prove the letter’s authenticity, explaining that a handwriting expert had said that the note had “similar characteristics” to Teoh's handwriting in other documents after comparing them.

Repeatedly pressed by the judges on whether the author of the note was ever conclusively determined to be Teoh, Abazafree explained that no experts would be able to do so as they only offer opinions in court.

Earlier, he also maintained the government's stand that the court “should be cautious” about the note, later insisting that the coroner was right to “assume” that it was written by Teoh based on expert opinion.

Gobind contended that there was a break in the “chain of evidence” where there were uncertainties over the handling of Teoh's bag after his death, arguing that there was a possibility that the bag's contents became “contaminated or disturbed”.

Abazafree and his colleague DPP Nadia Hanim Mohd Tajuddin argued that coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas had acted correctly by delivering an open verdict on January 5, 2010.

But Gobind reiterated his argument that the coroner ― by applying a lighter standard of proof ― would have been able to return a verdict of “death by homicide” or that MACC officers were “criminally concerned” in Teoh's death.

The court adjourned today and both sides will have to submit written submissions next month before the judges deliver their decision.

On February 10, 2012, Teoh Meng Kee - Beng Hock’s elder brother ― filed an application at the Court of Appeal to review the open verdict delivered by the Coroner’s Court in 2010, after his application was rejected by the High Court on December 1, 2011.

Beng Hock’s family have been in and out of the courtrooms over the past four years, after the 30-year-old groom-to-be was found sprawled in a pool of his own blood on the fifth-floor landing of the Plaza Masalam building in Shah Alam on the morning of July 16, 2009, days before his wedding.

A Royal Commission of Inquiry into Beng Hock’s death, chaired by now-retired Federal Court judge Tan Sri James Foong Cheng Yuen, later ruled on July 21, 2011 that it was a suicide.