EAIC forms task force to probe custodial deaths
The Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) will use powers under Section 4 of its founding Act to probe two cases of custodial death involving police detainees.
The Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) will use powers under Section 4 of its founding Act to probe two cases of custodial death involving police detainees.
“As a matter of public interest, an investigation under Section 28 of the (EAIC) Act 2009 will be opened into the (two cases)," said commission secretary and CEO Nor Afizah Hanum Mokhtar
At a press conference in Putrajaya today, she said a seven-member task force will meet on June 11 to examine the cases of N Dhamendran who died on May 21 and R Jamesh Ramesh who died on May 26.
EAIC chairperson Heliliah Mohd Yusof will chair the task force.
Nor Afizah said that while the initial task force will comprise five to seven members comprising EAIC members, legal experts and investigative experts, the numbers may expand as and when needed, especially since they will make use of independent consultants.
She added that the task force - formed using the "wide powers" available to the agency under the Act - will not conflict with ongoing police investigations and the Attorney-General’s Chambers' prosecution on cops who are alleged to have been involved in the custodial deaths, as it complements the other probes and does not contradict or conflict with them.
Nur Afizah clarified that as of now, the commission has yet to receive any official complaints about deaths in custody, but that it has decided to act out of public interest in a meeting on May 28.
Asked if the death-in-custody task force will be expanded to investigate other occurrences of custodial deaths, she said that the current task force had only been formed to investigate the two deaths, although she did not rule out the formation of other task forces in the future.
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