There were three to four other unknown officers from the anti-graft authority interrogating DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock before his death on July 16, 2009.

In order to get to the bottom of the mystery, RCI panel chief James Foong has instructed for Plaza Masalam’s closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from 8am on July 15 to 2pm the next day to be retrieved.

Foong made the order after Bar Council lawyer Christopher Leong said that MACC Shah Alam’s senior superintendent Mohd Anuar Ismail, in his statement to the police, revealed that he had asked an enforcement officer from the commission’s Putrajaya headquarters to also assist in Teoh’s interrogation.

NONE Leong asked investigating officer (IO) ASP Ahmad Nazri Zainal ( left ) if he had attempted to find out who that said MACC officer from Putrajaya was.

“As I said, there were two officers who interviewed Teoh in the meeting room, who are Mohd Ashraf Mohd Yunus, an MACC officer from Shah Alam, and Arman Alias from Putrajaya,” said Ahmad Nazri.

Leong then suggested that apart from Mohd Ashraf and Arman, there were other “unidentified” people involved in the interrogation on that day and asked Ahmad Nazri whether he had tried to ascertain it.

However, Ahmad Nazri replied that there were many police officers involved in extracting witness statements from all the anti-graft officers involved.

Teoh, who was a DAP political aide to Selangor state executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead after he had given his statement as a witness to the MACC over the alleged abuse of government funds.

He was found dead on the fifth floor landing of Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam, prior to which he was interrogated until overnight after he was taken in for questioning on July 15, 2009.

As Mohd Anuar’s witness statement did not state which policeman had questioned him, Leong put in an application to the RCI to retrieve the identity of the person, and suggested newly-appointed British private-eye Michael Leslie Squires investigate the matter.

However, Foong who leads the five-person panel, said that it would be easier if a request is made to the MACC.

Foong then ordered the conducting officers to put in a claim to retrieve the list of persons who had entered and exited Plaza Masalam and those involved in Teoh’s investigation on July 15, 2009 from 6pm to 2pm next day as well as the CCTV recordings.

‘Did you compare Teoh’s DNA with those of officers?’

Prior to that another Bar Council lawyer, N Mahendran, asked Ahmad Nazri if he had tried to match Teoh’s DNA with those of the 22 MACC officers who were directly involved in probing Teoh before his fatal fall.

The investigating officer said chemist Dr Seah Lay Hong, from the Chemistry Department, had taken samples of the DNA of all the MACC officers in Shah Alam to make comparisons with a couple of foreign DNA samples found on Teoh’s belt and blazer.

However, Ahmad Nazri replied that he did not try to test Teoh’s DNA with those of the 22 officers.

Earlier today, Ahmad Nazri received brickbats for not being to recall many key instances of his investigation on Teoh’s death.

Former Courts of Appeal Judge T Selventhiranathan, rather peeved at Ahmad Nazri for not being able to recall details of his investigation , said that the Teoh case should be regarded as something “important and extraordinary”.

“As such, attention to detail is imperative and not just cursory investigations,” he said, adding that “everything also you (Ahmad Nazri) can’t remember”.

Ahmad Nazri, who incensed the panel yesterday for failing to scout for Teoh’s missing watch , had further annoyed the panellists today.

Foong and another panel member, pathologist Dr Buphinder Singh, pointed out that the missing watch was an important piece of evidence as it could indicate the political aide’s time of death.

Foong raised doubts over Ahmad Nazri’s capability as an investigating officer, and even ridiculed the IO for just “opening and closing investigation papers”.

Ahmad Nazri, defending himself, said that he was in a rush to complete the probe in seven days before the inquest began on July 29, 2009.

But Selventhiranathan interrupted and told off Ahmad Nazri for not requesting for more time from the coroner.

Earlier in the day, the IO admitted that there was a mix-up in his testimony at the inquest into Teoh Beng Hock’s death which ended last month.

Cop admits mixing-up names 

Ahmad Nazri told the royal commission of inquiry that he had confused the identity of the MACC officer who furnished him with a copy of Teoh’s identity card (IC) with someone else.

Ahmad Nazri testified that he had erred when a lawyer from the Bar Council asked him on the events that unfolded when the cop arrived at the crime scene on the afternoon of July 16, 2009.

He then immediately clarified that an MACC enforcement officer only known as Azian had given him a copy of Teoh’s identity card, not Zurinawati Zulkipli, the person who he had previously pointed out during the inquest.

“Zurinawati is the one who led me to Teoh’s bag on the sofa. She was not the one who gave me the copy of the IC,” he said.

Conducting officer Amarjeet Singh queried if he had asked for her full name, but Ahmad Nazri said he had not.

He recalled what happened on July 16 and that it was Zurinawati who had pointed out that she had found Teoh’s bag on a sofa at the crime scene in the MACC office.

Ahmad Nazri also revealed that no gloves were used when the officer took the bag and that no chemical swabs were taken, as he did not think that it was relevant to the investigation.

The IO also informed the inquiry panel that his team failed to locate the missing watch yesterday. “We didn’t find anything,” said Ahmad Nazri.

“We couldn’t measure the depth of the drainage hole as the depth was roughly more than two floors of the building,” he said.

The inquiry is set to resume tomorrow morning.

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