The widow of Customs officer Ahmad Sarbani Mohamad today told the inquest into his death that her husband was a calm and collected man who would not act impulsively.

NONE "He was acting normal (on that day). I did not notice anything different about his demeanour. He was a bit tired," Maziah Manap ( left ) told the inquest which began today.

"But he was a calm and collected man, not one to take impulsive action."

She was responding to questions from lawyer Awtar Singh, who is holding a watching brief and questioning witnesses on behalf of the family at the inquest at the Jalan Duta Kuala Lumpur court complex.

After being questioned for suspected involvement in graft, Ahmad Sarbani died in a fall from the third floor of the Kuala Lumpur Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) building on April 6.

Maziah also told the court that her husband said an agent had framed him for allegedly taking RM30 from an RM100 voucher - what he told her was the cause of the MACC investigating him.

She also said Ahmad Sarbani swore to her that he did not take the money. She described her husband as a person who prayed five times a day and never took advantage of his job or position.

NONE Maziah was the first witness to testify at the inquest, before coroner Aizatul Akmal Maharani.

Her testimony consumed the better part of the morning session, after the lead DPP assisting the inquest, Mohd Abbazafree Mohd Abas, asked questions regarding the events from Ahmad Sarbani's arrest up to his death and burial.

‘It was not me, it was my men'

Awtar probed Maziah about her husband's mental and emotional state during the time leading up to his death. He also asked about a meeting between her and two officers from the MACC, who visited her to return documents confiscated while investigating her husband.

It was during this meeting that her suspicions about her husband's sudden death were stirred, she said, because of the behaviour of one of the officers. The situation prompted her to lodge a police report on the matter.

She related how a team of six MACC officers went to the Petronas office in Shah Alam where she worked as a supervisor. However she was not in the office and they left.

Later she called up the customs office and told an official to arrange for the MACC to meet her at the agency's office as she did not see why the anti-graft body must come to her office as she was not involved in their investigations.

She later met two of the commission's officers, a man she said was named Ghani and a woman named Zariana at the customs office, accompanied by her two daughters and a customs official.

No condolences

Maziah said that after they returned some documents seized during the investigation she confronted them because they did not even extend their condolences to her on her husband's death.

The widow later described how after a half-hearted and what seemed like an insincere condolence from Zariana, she asked them point blank what they would do if what befell her, happened to them.

To this she claimed that Ghani was unable to answer only replying cryptically when she pressed them further.

"It was not me, it was my men," Ghani allegedly said.

After that the late Customs officer's wife further claimed that Zariana left with Ghani, claiming that they had an operation to return to.

Ghani's remark sowed suspicions into her mind that the officer knew more than he was letting on, prompting the widow to lodge a police report the following day.

Maziah was released from the witness stand after the counsel representing the MACC, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who had excused himself earlier to attend a trial involving a minister, failed to return on time to question her.

Details of scene of death

The next witness was DSP Shahrul Othman Mansur of the Bukit Aman Forensics Lab's crime scene investigation unit, who had examined the scene of death.

He revealed the condition in which the body was found, on the badminton court on the first floor of the building.

NONE Under questioning by DPP Hanim Mohd Rashid, he walked the inquest through photos, diagrams, evidence gathered and his reports.

He then described fingerprints and hand marks found on a window in a pantry on the third floor, the level from which the CSI team believes Ahmad Sarbani ( left ) fell.

The inquest later continued at 2.30pm.