Beng Hock's sister pans cops' 'new investigation with old tactics'

Summary

• Teoh Beng Hock’s sister says the police merely reused old strategies in their renewed investigation, focusing on the theory of suicide instead of probing the case for possible homicide.

• Teoh Lee Lan decries the seeming double standards in the case and says it seems to be a case of civil servants protecting each other.

• She reiterates the family’s call for an independent expert criminal investigator to probe into Beng Hock’s death.

The latest investigation into Teoh Beng Hock’s death merely reused old strategies, said his sister.

Teoh Lee Lan said the police’s most recent investigation had focused on the theory that Beng Hock had committed suicide while excluding the possibility of murder or homicide.

“The most recent investigation only added the superficial use of drones - essentially old tactics dressed in new clothes. 

“The main focus remains Beng Hock’s family. Time and again, the family is harassed by the combined force of the police and Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC).

“The state’s machinery is being used to suppress a family seeking justice. Why is the victim’s family being treated this way? Why is the new government still targeting the family instead of investigating the MACC officers who detained Beng Hock?” she said in a statement.

On Thursday (May 22), Lee Lan said the recent decision by authorities to classify police investigations into Beng Hock’s death as no further action (NFA) does not reflect promises previously made by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

She said her family is deeply disappointed by the decision, which was determined by the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) and conveyed via the police.

‘Are senior officials free to murder?’

In 2009, Beng Hock, an aide to then Seri Kembangan assemblyperson Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead after overnight questioning at Selangor MACC, which was then headquartered at Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam.

A 2011 Royal Commission of Inquiry ruled he was driven to suicide due to aggressive interrogation, but a Court of Appeal decision in 2014 ruled his death was caused or accelerated by unlawful acts, including those of MACC officers.

Commenting further, Lee Lan lamented that senior officials seemingly enjoy double standards, which she claimed allow them to murder civilians and still enjoy privileges.

“We reiterate: the biased and unjust investigation by the police and AGC - focusing on the victim rather than the perpetrators - is the root cause of their failure to uncover the truth and their decision to conclude the investigation with ‘NFA’. 

“Their relentless defence of the MACC officers makes it clear this is a case of civil servants protecting each other, even at the cost of civilian lives and the nation’s legal and judicial integrity.

“This double standard - where senior officials can abuse and kill civilians and still enjoy privileges, while ordinary citizens have to plead for justice and endure further harassment - makes the current system no different from feudal autocracy. 

“Under Anwar’s ‘Madani Malaysia’ slogan, will the government stand with the officials who killed a civilian, or with the victim’s family seeking truth and justice? The people are watching closely,” she said.

‘Investigate case as murder’

She urged Anwar to direct the police to reclassify the case under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder, in line with the appellate court’s 2014 ruling.

She also repeated her family’s calls to appoint an internationally recognised expert criminal investigator to conduct the probe into her brother’s death.

On Nov 21 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ordered the police to complete the investigation into Beng Hock’s death within six months after appeals court judge Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh allowed a judicial review application by his parents.

During Harapan’s first stint in Putrajaya under then-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s leadership, the cabinet had agreed to reopen investigations into Beng Hock’s death.

Before the case was reopened, two special investigation teams were formed in 2011 and again in 2015. However, both probes were similarly classified as NFA.

In February this year, police said they would utilise 3D crime scene reconstruction technology to assist in their renewed investigation.

However, later that month, Beng Hock’s family accused the police of repeatedly questioning them instead of the MACC officers implicated in his death.

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