Teoh Beng Hock and Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah are people of “integrity”, said Kajang municipal councillor Lee Kee Hiong today, testifying before the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) investigating Teoh’s death.

Bar Council lawyer Robert Lau quizzed Kee Hiong  on whether Teoh and his employer Ean Yong had marked up prices in contracts awarded.

“What sort of opinion will Teoh offer in terms of pricing? Will he say that pricing is too little and to mark it up?” he asked.

NONE However, Kee Hiong ( right ) disagreed, adding that the political aide “would never do that”.

Lau: How do you come up with final pricing?

Kee Hiong: YB (Ean Yong) will give me a budget and (if it overshoots) he will tell me to reduce it.

“Ean Yong is a bright person and he has integrity,” defended Kee Hiong, adding that Teoh was “honest and a person of integrity”.

“I gave him (Teoh) angpau (red packets with money) once and he asked me if it’s from me or from my company? I said from me, then he said, ‘If from you then I take’,” said Kee Hiong.

Kee Hiong took the stand today as she had a role as a programme coordinator for a company called Hong Chae Enterprise, which had ran a programme and managed projects in Ean Yong’s Seri Kembangan constituency.

She is also the niece of Lee Wye Wing, one of the contractors who was engaged by Ean Yong, and he manages a company called WSK Services.

Wye Wing was a witness at the RCI as he was questioned by MACC Selangor on July 15, 2009, the same day as Teoh.

 

Kee Hiong’s affiliation with both contractors was also quizzed by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who suggested that she had played a role in influencing Ean Yong to award projects to them.

“Did you facilitate that these companies get all, if not most, of these contracts, in particular from Seri Kembangan?” suggested Muhammad Shafee.

However, Lee responded that she “is a simple woman, who leads a simple life”, and disagreed with the lawyer.

‘Teoh was a calm problem-solver’

Kee Hiong was among a few other witnesses who had spoken to Teoh on July 15, when he was taken in for questioning by Selangor MACC officers to explain irregular disbursement of constituency funds by Ean Yong.

He was found dead the next day on the fifth floor landing of Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam. MACC Selangor headquarters was then located of the 14th floor of the building.

“He could solve problems in a calm manner,” said Kee Hiong, adding that he sounded “normal” during their telephone conversation that day.

“When we are running out of time, when we have to deal with people and deal with complaints, he is one of the best political secretaries I have met,” she added.

MACC: Teoh could have become a suspect