The lawyer representing the family of custodial death victim Syed Mohd Azlan Syed Mohamed has slammed the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) for classifying its investigation on the death as a secret.

The lawyer, M Visvanathan, said this means he could not use the document to help seek justice for the family in court and questioned the usefulness of the report.

“So, tell me: What is the purpose and use of this EAIC report? With due respect, I think this is as good as toilet paper. With due respect to the commissioners, I think it is absolute rubbish,” he told reporters at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

He said he wrote to the EAIC on June 14 asking for a copy of the report, the findings of which had been announced by the EAIC during a press conference on Oct 30, 2015.

He also asked the EAIC for details of the witnesses who testified to the EAIC so that they could be subpoenaed as witnesses to a civil suit claiming damages over Azlan’s death.

However, EAIC in a reply dated June 28 informed him the information he sought is classified.

“The statement of witnesses involved in the EAIC investigation were recorded under Section 112 of the Criminal Procedure Code and the investigation file is classified as secret.

“Therefore, we are unable to disclose the names of witnesses involved in the EAIC report because it is feared that this would expose the witnesses’ identities to the public,” the letter read.

Copies of correspondences between the EAIC and Visvanathan’s law firm had been circulated to the press.

The EAIC letter also cited Section 52 of the EAIC Act 2009.

The provision stipulates that no member of the EAIC shall disclose any information obtained by him over the course of his duties.

This is unless it is authorised by the Commission, or is required by the EAIC Act, or for the purposes of any civil or criminal proceeding.

“We wish to inform that the commission is bound by provisions of Section 52 of the EAIC Act,” the letter read.

Azlan, a welder, was arrested in the wee hours of Nov 3, 2014, and brought to the police station lock-up in Sungai Rengit, Johor. He died at the age of 25 years, several hours later.

Following an investigation, the EAIC had said that it found 61 wounds on Azlan’s body that were consistent with defensive injuries and said police personnel had beaten him while in custody.

Three police personnel - Weddrin Mojingkin, Joshua Perait, and Muhammad Bunyamin - had been charged under Section 304(b) over the death. The case is still pending at the Johor Bahru High Court.

Azlan’s family had filed a civil suit naming 14 respondents, including the trio, on Nov 1 last year to claim damages for the death.

The EAIC was established on April 1, 2011, in response a Royal Commission of Inquiry recommendation that called for an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) to be set up.

The government at the time touted that the IPCMC has jurisdiction over more enforcement agencies rather than focusing solely on the police, whereas critics argued that EIAC is a watered-down version of the IPCMC because it has less extensive powers over the agencies they oversee.

Visvanathan noted that although it has been three years since the EAIC had announced its findings on Azlan’s death, the EAIC letter states, “The EAIC’s findings and recommendations related to the investigation is still being considered by the enforcement agency concerned.”

He said this is despite only three police personnel implicated in the death had been charged in court, whereas there has been no disciplinary action at all others who had been implicated.