KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — DAP has written to the attorney general (AG) and urged him to instruct the police to reinvestigate Teoh Beng Hock’s death for murder rather than wrongful confinement, said Lim Guan Eng.
The DAP secretary-general said he personally drafted the letter sent to Tommy Thomas on Tuesday after learning that the police were directed to focus their new probe on unlawful detention despite indications of homicide in Teoh’s 2009 death.
“I am surprised that instead of reopening investigations, the police are investigating instead under Section 342 of the Penal Code, which deals with wrongful confinement, as instructed by the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC).
“Following this development, I had written another letter to Tommy Thomas on June 25, 2019 and we are awaiting his reply,” Lim said in his statement.
He said the federal Cabinet has revisited the matter several times since June last year and decided during a May 15 meeting that investigations into Teoh’s death be reopened.
Lim, who is also the finance minister, said unearthing all the facts of Teoh’s death was of public importance and pledged his party’s support and sympathy for the latter’s family.
Teoh, who had been a political aide to then-Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam in 2009.
His body was discovered after he was interrogated for hours by the Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on the 14th floor of the building.
A Royal Commission of Inquiry held over the matter later concluded that Teoh committed suicide due to the aggressive interrogation methods by the MACC officers.
This was also brought to the High Court in a wrongful death suit filed by the family, before finally being presented to the Court of Appeal that found elements of homicide in his death.
It was reported last year that the police will conduct further investigations into Teoh’s death after being instructed to do so by the AGC.
The three MACC officers implicated in Teoh’s death were never directly prosecuted and two also received promotions after the incident.
