SUHAKAM INQUIRY | A witness told the Sukaham public inquiry today into the disappearance of Amri Che Mat (above) that he had seen several vehicles parked near his (Amri's) house for three consecutive days before the activist from Perlis Hope (an anti-poverty NGO) disappeared.

The witness, Vee Yak, 35, who owns a car workshop along Jalan Padang Behor in Kangar, Perlis, 150m from Amri’s house, said the cars were parked in shifts three days in a row prior to Amri's disappearance.

Amri is reported to have gone missing at around midnight on Nov 25, 2016.

Vee said the three vehicles were a gold coloured first generation Toyota Vios, a white Honda Civic and a black Toyota Hilux.

He said the Vios would be parked there in the morning till 3pm before the Civic replaced it in the same spot until 7pm. From 7pm until about midnight, the Hilux would arrive and park at a different spot right outside his workshop.

“Their engines were running the whole time but no one ever came out of the cars,” he said.

Vee added that the windows of all three cars were heavily tinted and thus he could not make out either the number of people inside the vehicles nor their faces.

He said he noted down the car registration plate of the Vios - PFC 1623 - but did not do so for the other two vehicles.

Asked to sign ‘blank papers’

In December 2016, one month after Amri’s disappearance, Vee testified that he was approached by a man who identified himself as a police officer in plainclothes but did not provide any identification documents or name.

The man questioned him about the suspicious vehicles he had observed and typed his notes into his mobile phone. Vee said he was not asked to sign any statement.

On Oct 16, 2017, Vee said he was ordered to present himself at the Kangar district police headquarters where he had his verbal statement taken by inspector Muhd Husyairi Musa.

“I was also asked to signed many kertas kosong (blank sheets of paper),” he told the inquiry.

Vee later went to a police station to lodge a report against the police at the same police headquarters for making him sign blank sheets of paper. He was accompanied by Amri’s family lawyer K Muthiah.

In his cross-examination of the witness, Sentul police chief R Munusamy disputed that Vee had been asked to sign blank sheets of paper.

Munusamy produced a police statement dated Oct 16 which bore the latter’s signature.

Not disputing the bulk of the contents in the statement, Vee insisted that Muhd Husyairi had told him “ […] this is the easy way, just sign these” before making him sign the blank sheets.

During his testimony today, Vee was observed to have difficulty in speaking, reading and understanding Malay.

Suhakam commissioner Mah Weng Kwai (photo) questioned if the signing of blank sheets was a “new standard operating procedure” for the police.

Absent from the Suhakam inquiry today was inspector Khor Yi Shuen of the Kangar district police headquarters who was scheduled to appear.

Mah expressed displeasure at Khor’s absence noting how the commission had summoned him much earlier this month.

“We are rather disappointed that inspector Khor could not be here today. It is not in anyone’s interest to drag this case any further,” the commissioner said.

Uber driver charged

Khor had recorded a statement from an eyewitness who appeared before the inquiry yesterday.

Aside from Mah, today’s inquiry was presided over by commissioners Aishah Bidin and Nik Salida Suhaila Nik Saleh.

Suhakam is currently investigating whether the disappearances of Amri and two others were “enforced or involuntary” as defined by the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED).

This is defined as the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the state or by persons, or groups of persons acting with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of the state.

The instrument was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2006. Malaysia is not a signatory to the ICPPED.

The two other disappearances being investigated are that of pastor Joshua Hilmy and his wife Ruth Sitepu.

The commission had previously been investigating pastor Raymond Koh’s disappearance but was forced to suspend proceedings when former Uber driver Lam Chang Nam was charged in court for abducting Koh.

Suhakam's inquiry into Amri’s disappearance will resume on April 2.