News reports were unethical in revealing details about a document that is expected to be adduced at the Teoh Beng Hock inquest, said Gobind Singh Deo.

“That’s not quite the right thing to do,” Gobind told Malaysiakini , explaining that the document has not yet been tendered in court.

NONE Gobind ( right ) was referring to front-page reports by Star and New Straits Times today, revealing details of the document purportedly written by Teoh before his death.

Star reported that the attorney-general’s chambers had implied that the document was a “suicide note”.

“I accept that it is a note, but whether it is a suicide note is a separate matter,” said Gobind, when met at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

The NST report , quoting sources, claimed that the document was purportedly a page-long handwritten note in Chinese, authored by Teoh.

According to the report, “The note was somewhat written to a Yang Berhormat (elected representative) and the reader could conclude that it was also to say goodbye.

“The gist of it is, he asked his boss to forgive him for having to ‘reveal to MACC many things’ while his statement was taken.”

Gobind maintained that NST had merely reported what “it believes” are the contents of the document, but said he was “surprised” by both articles.

Pro-Umno bloggers knew

The document in question was first raised publicly by pro-Umno bloggers last month, although they supplied no details about the contents, apart from mention that the document was a “suicide note” and that it was handwritten in Chinese.

The reports prompted Senator Mohd Ezam Noor to raise the matter in the Dewan Negara on July 26, urging the AG to tender the note as evidence in court.

Yesterday, Gobind had accused the AG's chambers of withholding the document until the final stages of the inquest.

The AG has denied that this was the case, justifying that his office had waited since Oct 10, 2009 to tender the document in court because of doubts about its authenticity .