Teoh Beng Hock's death: AG 'highly irresponsible'

Attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail's refusal to comment on investigations into the alleged involvement of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers in the death of a political aide is "highly irresponsible", says an opposition MP.

"The AG should tell us whether the MACC officers implicated by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Teoh Beng Hock's death will be prosecuted or not," DAP's Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo said in a statement.

The AG, Gobind said, "is clearly playing the fool" as his stance that he 'only charges' and does 'not investigate' does not make any sense at all.

"What kind of AG only prosecutes, without control over investigations?" asked Gobind.

He also questioned the AG's claim that his office was not involved in the investigations despite officers from the chambers being present and actively involved in both the inquest into Teoh's death and the RCI.

Gobind was referring to Gani's abbreviated reply to reporters yesterday when he was asked about the investigations.

"I am not an investigator, I don't look at investigations. I only look at charges," Gani said in reply to questions and said he would not argue further on the matter.

Approached as he left a meeting with de facto Law Minister Nazri Aziz and MACC top brass at the minister's office in Parliament House, Gani was asked to reply to a statement by Nazri that the MACC officers had been cleared of any wrongdoing in Teoh's death.

In a written reply to Parliament, Nazri had said that the trio were cleared by the Attorney-General's Chambers.

Pressed further, Gani would only say that the matter had been "referred back to the MACC" and left hurriedly.

Gobind is also puzzled why the matter "is referred back to the MACC" when it was the anti-corruption body's conduct that had been investigated.

"Isn't this plain ridiculous? There is a conflict (of interest)," he concluded.

Meanwhile, the Teoh Beng Hock support group coordinator Chong Kok Siong, has urged the prime minister to take action against Nazri, the Attorney-General's Chambers, the police and MACC if no explicit answers were forthcoming within the next three days.

In a statement today, Chong said the four parties are taking part in a “ sandiwara ” to pass the buck around to avoid public criticisms.

"They have conspired to drag the issue as long as possible hoping the rakyat will forget this national tragedy.

“They have been utterly insensitive and have shown no sympathy to the tragedy facing theTeoh family,” he said.

Chong said investigations on the three MACC officials had always been slow.

"This is ridiculous, unacceptable and the biggest mockery to Najib’s slogan of performance now," he added.