The family of customs officer, the late Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamad, today demanded a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the cause of his death, claiming that an earlier inquest had failed to unravel the truth.

sarbaini family pc 151011 At a PKR-organised press conference today, the deceased's brother-in-law Makhtar Mansor ( right ) said the coroner's verdict did not take into account testimonies questioning the circumstances of the customs officer's death, instead, had accepted evidence that challenged Ahmad Sarbaini's credibility.

According to Makhtar, who had once served as a magistrate and a senior deputy public prosecutor for Kedah, the coroner did not take into account the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) testimony that the deceased had confessed under duress. 

"The MACC officer said (the deceased) asked if there were implications if he confessed and was told that the MACC will compare it to his wealth so he needn't worry.

"He did not have any wealth, so he confessed to getting (up to RM200 per month from logistics companies) to avoid being put in the lock up again. He did so under duress," he said at the PKR headquarters in Tropicana.

NONE Makhtar, who is no longer a practicing lawyer, said that he initially could not believe that MACC would do anything wrong, but daily attendance at the inquest changed his mind. 

"During the inquest a security guard, one Ismail, testified that there were others who attempted to jump out of the window, and that some walked away unscathed," he said.

"I don't know if he was telling the truth or not, but this was objected to by the lawyer representing MACC (Muhammad Shafee Abdullah) who said it was irrelevant," he said.

Family not out for blood

The coroner's court had on Sep 26, found that Ahmad Sarbaini, 56, died after falling off a ledge when attempting to leave the Jalan Cochrane MACC building via a third floor window on April 6.

NONE He had gone to there to amend a statement, following an MACC investigation into alleged graft within the customs department.

“It's as if they tried to cover up things. Could it be that the fingerprints were wiped off? They didn't even dare to go down to look at the deceased...we are very saddened by this,” he said.

Makhtar, who was overcome with emotions, said that the family is not out to punish, just to seek the truth.

“We don't want to punish those who did no wrong, we just want justice for the deceased,” he said, accompanied by his wife Akba Mohamad and Ahmad Sarbaini's mother Aishah Abdul Raof, both of whom were seen wiping away tears.

Also present were Ahmad Sarbaini's brothers Ghazali and Rashid, and the family's lawyer and PKR vice president, N Surendran.

Surendran said that the RCI is the family's only option to seek the truth as a judicial review of the inquest verdict would only involve a revision of what had been presented then.

“A revision by the High Court is bound to the proceedings in the (coroner's) court...so the investigation cannot be reopened. Only an RCI can do that,” he said.

He noted that the RCI also has the power to instruct the Attorney General to conduct a full investigation with full police powers under the criminal procedure code.

What price MACC’s name?

He said that among the areas which the family wants to be investigated further was the deletion of portions of the CCTV footage coinciding with the time of death.

“A police forensic expert ASP Fauziah Che Mat testified (during in inquest) that the CCTV (footage) was tampered with by someone skilled (but) the MACC Kuala Lumpur director said that it was human error.

 

“Who tampered with it? Why did the coroner dismiss (the forensic expert's) testimony. There is no explanation as to why the footage was erased,” he said.

He added that the family was also aggrieved that the deceased's conduct was put under scrutiny when he could no longer be there to defend himself.

This, he said, went against the tradition of common law where court proceedings cannot be used to defame third parties in their absence.

“In such cases, a lawyer would write (the third party's) name on a piece of paper, give it to the witness on the stand and ask him to answer questions referring to this person without repeating the name (in court),” said the criminal lawyer.

Surendran added that following the death, the MACC had acted to clear its name rather than seeking out the truth, even to the extent of forking out RM150,000 to hire their counsel, Shafee.

“What right do they have to spend RM150,000 of taxpayer's money to pay for a lawyer when they have a full legal department already?” he asked, of the figure revealed in a written answer in Parliament by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz.

In the written reply to a question by DAP-Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching, Nazri said that the MACC also paid British expert witness Peter Venezis RM90,860 in legal fees and other costs. 

Also present to support the family today was pressure group Save Beng Hock representative Ng Yap Hwa.