Coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas who is handling the Teoh Beng Hock death inquest today allowed his (Teoh's) family members to be interviewed by two psychiatrists to determine his state of mind prior to his death.

Azmil said the interviews could help in investigation after Dr Bada'iah Yahya, forensic psychiatric consultant at Hospital Permai Johor, and Dr Nor Hayati Ali of the Health Ministry had made their reports.

The issue of the involvement of the two psychiatrists had caused tension since a few days ago when lawyer Gobind Singh Deo, who represents Teoh's family, and the lawyer for the Selangor government, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, questioned whether the interviews were relevant for the inquest.

However, lawyer Tan Hock Chuan, who represents the federal government stressed that the interviews would only involve questions regarding Teoh's background.

In the proceedings today, Tan forwarded to all parties several questions that would be posed by the two psychiatrists.

As in previous proceedings, Gobind continued to question the involvement of the psychiatrists and said: "We don't know who has been interviewed. We don't know what they said. The interviews were not done under oath. We can't test that."

While Malik Imtiaz questioned to what extent the interviews and the reports from the psychiatrists could help investigation.

Mental state from childhood till adulthood

Deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Abazafree Mohd Abbas, who is also helping in the inquest, said the questions to be posed was only to do with Teoh's background and for MACC officers the two psychiatrists could be guided by evidence that had been produced in the court earlier.

He said those that needed to be interviewed were Teoh's family members and several people who were close to him including his former boss, Ean Yong Hian Wah.

The lawyer representing the MACC, Abdul Razak Musa, agreed with Mohamad Abazafree and said if transparent information was to be had as asked for by all lawyers earlier, the psychiatrists' reports were important.

He said Teoh's state from childhood till adulthood could only be known through his family and if the questions were not asked, information about his mental state could not be known.

Teoh, 30, a political aide to the chairman of the Selangor state committee for new villages and illegal factories management, Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on July 16 on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam after being called as a witness by the MACC over alleged misappropriation of Selangor government allocations.

Azmil set Oct 14 for continuation of the proceedings and he reminded all parties to be more focused on just the inquest into Teoh's death and to not raise other matters.

On that day, Selangor MACC deputy-director Hishammuddin Hashim and chief investigation officer Khairul Ilham Hamzah will be called to give evidence.

- Bernama