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“We need a new approach in finding truth and justice in Teoh’s case, as 15 years of injustice is too long,” association chairman Ng Yap Hwa told FMT.
Echoing calls made by Teoh’s family in August last year, he stressed that the police must conduct an independent and professional investigation and probe all possible angles, including murder or culpable homicide.
“This is a death in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) custody. The police must investigate the five key MACC officers under Section 302 or Section 304,” he said, referring to the sections of the Penal Code covering murder and culpable homicide.
Ng was responding to Bukit Aman criminal investigation department director Shuhaily Zain, who recently announced that police would soon recall witnesses in Teoh’s case.
This follows a Kuala Lumpur High Court order in November last year instructing authorities to reopen and thoroughly reinvestigate all aspects of his death.
While welcoming the new police investigation, Ng warned against a “business as usual” approach, pointing out that the Attorney-General’s Chambers had previously rejected investigation papers on Teoh’s case and returned them to the police eight times.
“This shows that something must be wrong,” he said.
Ng also said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had promised Teoh’s family on Aug 1 last year that he would meet the IGP and attorney-general regarding the new investigation.
However, he said there has been complete silence since then.
In July 2009, Teoh, who was then political aide to Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam, hours after he had gone for questioning at the 14th floor of MACC’s Selangor headquarters.
A coroner’s inquest in 2011 delivered an open verdict.
Teoh’s family subsequently filed an appeal against the findings and three years later, the Court of Appeal set aside the open verdict and ruled the death was caused by multiple injuries as a result of unlawful acts by unknown persons.
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