KUALA LUMPUR, June 6 — An independent body should be set up to investigate the alleged power abuse by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), non-governmental organisation Malaysians for Beng Hock (MBH) demanded today.

It claimed that a police investigation was not independent with regard to the MACC and that the people have a negative perception of both the law enforcement agencies.

Referring to the death of Customs officer Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamad, it said there had been no developments in the case even though the officer died two months ago.

“This shows that the police force is not efficient, not effective, contrary to the government’s slogan that prioritises the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

“This is evident in the Teoh Beng Hock case in which the police did not collect evidence carefully, the investigation officer did not conduct a thorough and in-depth investigation as they were not ‘instructed by their superiors’,” said Chong Kok Siong, co-ordinator for MBH, in a statement.

Ahmad Sarbaini, 56, was found dead on the badminton court of MACC building here on April 6 at about 10.20am, barely two hours after walking into the MACC office.

It came as a huge blow to the anti-graft body’s credibility while the Teoh Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) was still ongoing.

Teoh, a DAP aide, fell to his death at the then-Selangor MACC office on July 16, 2009. An 18-month inquest returned an “open verdict”, ruling out both suicide and homicide in Teoh’s death.

The MBH urged the government to set up an independent committee, headed by human rights leaders, to investigate Ahmad Sarbaini’s death.