Lawyers representing the family of alleged police brutality victim C Sugumar is standing firm by their allegation that Najib Abdul Razak was instrumental in preventing Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand from carrying out a second autopsy on the deceased.

NONE Lawyers Latheefa Koya ( left )and N Surendran have maintained that the source from which they received the tip off is “impeccable and authoritative”.

In a statement sent today, they also stressed that the prime minister’s denial was contradicted by the Thai forensic pathologist’s own statement to the media yesterday and contents of a letter purportedly by her country’s Ministry of Justice on the matter.

Both her statement and the letter, the lawyers said, indicated the existence of communications between the Thai and Malaysian governments.

“In diplomatic language, this is a clear message from the Malaysian government that Dr Pornthip is not welcome in Malaysia for purposes of the second autopsy for Sugumar,” the statement reads.

Pornthip, according to The Malaysian Insider , has claimed the Thai Ministry of Justice informed her that the government here was “not happy” with her work, especially in the case of the 2009 death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock.

Meanwhile, Malaysiakini reported yesterday that in an internal report, the Thai ministry had expressed concern that the Malaysian government may “again worry” that Pornthip’s action and statements could be exploited by the opposition in the lead up to the general election, “which will impact negatively on the government”.

‘No explaination from Najib on letter’

NONE However, the document contained no mention of any request that Pornthip be prohibited from conducting a second post-mortem on Sugumar, as alleged by Surendran ( right ) on Thursday.

Najib had also denied the allegation, dismissing it as “ fairy tales ”.

However, in their statement, Latheefa and Surendran claimed that the report was a follow up to communications on the subject between the two governments.

“This letter was several pages long, of which only part of a page was referred to in a Malaysiakini report... The main part of the letter refers to the message from the Malaysian government.

“Apart from Najib's bare denial, there has been no explanation from the Malaysian government on the existence of this incriminating letter.

“Is Najib seriously saying that he has no knowledge of his own government's high-level pressure on the Thai government, which is proven by the contents of the Thai Ministry of Justice's letter to Pornthip?” they queried.

Lawyers: Reopen Teoh Beng Hock’s case

The revelations from the letter has further prompted the pair to demand that investigations into Teoh’s death be reopened.

NONE Pornthip had observed that the second autopsy on Teoh ( left ), who a royal commission of inquiry had later found had “ committed suicide ” after being interrogated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commision.

It was pointed out that at the same time government was promising justice to Teoh’s family, it was also making “diplomatic complaints to Pornthip’s home country”.

“In view of this, the Teoh Beng Hock case should be reopened and the full circumstances of the government's interference in the inquiries into his death be investigated.”

They also demand Najib reveal the full extent of the communication with the Thai authorities, which is entitled to by Sugumar's family and the Malaysian people.