KUALA LUMPUR – Teoh Beng Hock’s family members will know the decision on their judicial review application on October 29, which aimed to compel the inspector-general of police, among others, to carry out a complete investigation into their son’s death.
Lawyer Ramkarpal Singh, who is representing the Teoh family, said the status of the investigations remains incomplete following an affidavit filed by the respondents last year.
This, he said, is despite Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s statement on July 19 that police submitted the investigation papers to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
“I don’t think it is for the home minister to give a decision as to whether the investigations are complete. That is for the police to decide.
“The home minister is not involved in the process, which is why the police were made a party to this judicial review application.
“We can only go on what the police have said in affidavits,” Ramkarpal told the press outside the Jalan Duta court complex here today.
Earlier, during oral submissions, Ramkarpal told the court that failure to complete investigations 15 years after Beng Hock’s death is unacceptable, especially given the authorities have not provided reasons for the delay.
He also submitted to the court that a period of three to five months from the date of decision would be sufficient for police to conclude their findings on the matter.
Meanwhile, federal counsel Mohammad Sallehuddin Md Ali told the court that 15 years was not an unreasonable time given significant events since Beng Hock’s death in 2009 such as the judicial inquiry and the formation of several police task forces.
Sallehuddin also told the court that police can take their time with investigations given such matters should not be subject to judicial review.
The submissions today were heard by judge Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh.
Beng Hock’s father Teoh Leong Hwee and his mother Teng Shuw Hoi were granted leave to file an application for judicial review on June 16, 2022.
The federal government, the IGP and the Bukit Aman criminal investigation department director have been named as respondents in the application.
Beng Hock’s body was found on the fifth-floor landing of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam on the morning of July 16, 2009, after being questioned overnight by officers from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) at their office on the 14th floor.
At the time of his death, Beng Hock was the political aide to the then-Selangor executive councillor, Ean Yong Hian Wah, who was also DAP’s Seri Kembangan assemblyman.
On July 21, 2011, a royal commission of inquiry established to investigate Beng Hock’s death concluded that he had been driven to commit suicide due to the aggressive nature of the MACC’s questioning.
However, on January 5, 2011, the Shah Alam coroner’s court ruled that Beng Hock’s death was not due to suicide or murder, and found that there was no third party involved.
In 2014, the Court of Appeal ruled that Beng Hock’s death was caused by the act of “a person or persons unknown”, including MACC officers who grilled him before he was found dead. – July 29, 2024