Kajang councillor Tan Boon Wah denied that he was on a mission to discredit the MACC through his testimony at the inquest on political aide Teoh Beng Hock's death.

Taking the witness stand today, Tan refuted questions by the MACC counsel Abdul Razak Musa, who claimed that Tan had held a grudge after losing his suit against the commission for interrogating him after office hours.

NONE Abdul Razak had asked Tan ( left ) to verify whether his testimony against the MACC was false and that he intended to sully the good name of the commission.

Testifying at the inquest which resumed after a week-long break, Tan denied Abdul Razak's repeated questions on whether he had argued and was angry with Teoh when they both met at the MACC's Selangor headquarters at Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam during the evening of July 16 last year.

Abdul Razak then tried to get Tan to agree that Teoh had indeed over-claimed in the purchase of flags and charged that Tan was angry with the deceased for dragging him into the case being investigated by the MACC at the time.

Teoh was then being questioned as a witness over alleged irregularities by his employer and Selangor exco member Ean Yong Hian Wah in the disbursement of state allocations.

However, Teoh's body was found on the fifth-floor walkaway of the building the next afternoon, July 17.

MACC bid dismissed

Tan had sued the MACC over its right to interrogate witnesses late at night during which time the commission has been accused of torturing them.

Tan himself was questioned overnight at Plaza Masalam on July 16 together with Teoh.

The High Court ruled in favour of Tan, saying that the MACC was not empowered to investigate a witness ‘round the clock’.

teoh family sue macc officer intimidate prontip 050110 gobind The decision, however, was overturned by the Court of Appeal on Dec 17 and this was subsequently upheld by the Federal Court on May 20.

Continuing his testimony, Tan denied Razak’s allegations only to be warned by the latter that he had the documents to support his claims.

This prompted Gobind Singh Deo ( right ), representing Teoh's family, to object, saying the MACC counsel could not resort to threatening a witness.

"If you want to challenge (a claim) then challenge, but you cannot go on threatening a witness. Datuk (Abdul Razak) is a member of the Bar, he should know that," he said.

Earlier, Coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas dismissed a MACC submission  to call three witnesses to establish Teoh's mental state at the time of his death.

Psychologist's report wanted

Azmil said while the court could hear what the witnesses had to say, it did not have the expertise to come to a conclusion on Teoh's mental state prior to his death.

"Establishing the mental state (of Teoh) requires an analysis from a specialist and the court is not a specialist to analyse the profile of the deceased," he said.

Azmil suggested that the MACC counsel find a psychologist to evaluate the recorded statements of the three witnesses.

NONE "When we get the (psychologist's) report, then the court will decide whether or not the witnesses are admissible," he said.

The inquest has been adjourned to Aug 9 when two more MACC witnesses MACC will be called.

Following this, Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand is scheduled to take the stand on Aug 18 while the court has yet to set a date for police investigating officer ASP Ahmad Nazri Zainal, the last witness, to testify.

Gobind had before this withdrawn his application for Pornthip to testify via video conferencing.

Green light given

NONE The counsel had told the court he had received a letter from Pornthip stating her willingness to testify in person now that the Thai authorities had issued her clearance , based on a request by the Selangor government which had engaged her.

"She has received the green light from the Thai Justice Ministry and is willing to come and testify," said Gobind.

It was previously reported that Pornthip ( right ), who was engaged on a government-to-government basis between Bangkok and Shah Alam, had bowed out of testifying.