The Malaysian Insider

By Debra Chong

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 28 – The Court of Appeal here today dismissed the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) appeal to expunge damaging evidence that its men tortures people brought in for questioning, as alleged by a witness who testified in the inquest into the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock.

The decision, by a panel of three judges, was made in under an hour and was unanimous.

Judge Datuk Suriyadi Halim Omar, who chaired the bench, stressed that today’s sitting was to decide if the previous decision by the High Court judge, Datuk Yeoh Wee Siam, to allow T. Sivanesan’s evidence to go on record in the inquest probing the circumstances surrounding Teoh’s death on July 16 was legal or not.

“We’re not here to change or substitute her decision. Tell us: Is there any process or procedure that is illegal or fundamentally wrong?” the judge asked the lawyer from the Attorney General’s Chambers acting for the MACC, Manoj Kurup.

Manoj admitted that neither the high court judge nor the magistrate acting as coroner in Teoh’s inquest, Azmil Muntapha Abas, had broken any process of law in allowing Sivanesan’s evidence.

But the deputy public prosecutor argued that MACC wanted the decision overturned because its image was affected.

Suriyadi pointed out to him, rather testily, that it was the coroner’s duty to take into account all claims to find out the truth of what happened to Teoh even if meant that reputations may be damaged in the process.

“They are trying to show that MACC has a propensity to be unfriendly,” the judge said of the lawyers acting for Teoh’s family and his employer, the Selangor state government.

“You are worried that the MACC pushed him out of the window but I feel that as far as the magistrate is concerned, he is not bothered who pushed who,” Suriyadi noted.

“Bagilah magistrate peluang (give the magistrate a chance),” he added.

Teoh, 30, was the political secretary to Selangor DAP state lawmaker Ean Yong Hian Wah.

He was found dead on a 5th floor landing outside the MACC’s Selangor office in Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam, a day after being hauled up for questioning into claims his boss had misused state funds.

Lawyer for the Teoh family, Gobind Singh Deo, had in early September produced Sivanesan as a witness in Teoh’s inquest to show that the MACC may have been involved in foul play leading to his death.

Sivanesan, 22, had told the coroner’s court in early September that he had been badly beaten up by Selangor graft busters during interrogation at their office in Plaza Masalam just 10 months before Teoh died.

Photographs detailing his injuries and a police report complaining about MACC brutality were admitted as evidence.

Manoj today repeated his argument that Sivanesan’s evidence is “not relevant” because the latter is a suspect in a separate and ongoing investigation by the Selangor MACC.

He added that the national anti-graft body’s public image had suffered a damaging blow as a result.

But renowned Thai pathologist, Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand, recently testified in the coroner’s court that Teoh’s injuries show he may have been sodomised and strangled before his fatal fall.

Thanks to their testimonies, Teoh’s family now hopes the coroner will agree to exhume his body for a second autopsy to confirm her expert opinion, which were initially based on the autopsy report and photographs of his injuries and death scene done by local forensic experts.

“The most important factor that made my family decide to go for the second autopsy is because of Beng Hock’s photos and Dr Pornthip’s ‘80 per cent homicide’ remarks,” Teoh Lee Lan, the younger sister of the deceased, told The Malaysian Insider today.

Speaking to reporters after the Court of Appeal decision today, a relieved Gobind said he hopes to get a reply from the coroner later this evening.

Lawyers for the MACC had hurried out through a side door to avoid commenting on suffering their third strike-out to expunge the damaging evidence.

In their place, lawyer for Selangor, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, said the MACC now has the option of cross-examining Sivanesan in the coroner’s court if they wanted  to challenge his testimony.