Lawyers urged a thorough police investigation into the death of a Customs officer who fell outside the MACC
By Boo Su-Lyn, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, April 6 — Bar Council lawyers urged a thorough police investigation into the death of a Customs officer who fell outside the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office here earlier today.
The senior Customs officer, who was being investigated over a billion ringgit in unpaid taxes, died even as a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) is currently investigating the mysterious death of former DAP aide Teoh Beng Hock, who also plunged to his death from an MACC building in 2009.
“Whatever the cause of this tragic death that we heard today, it appears that MACC has not learned from lessons past,” Bar Council vice-president Christopher Leong told The Malaysian Insider today.
“Investigations must be done thoroughly, exhaustively right from the start to avoid a case like Teoh Beng Hock, where investigations was not sufficiently thorough when the coroner’s inquest produced an open verdict, resulting in a commission of inquiry,” added Leong, who heads the Bar Council team in the RCI.
Teoh’s body was found on the fifth floor corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam on July 16, 2009, after he was questioned overnight by MACC officers at their then Selangor headquarters on the 14th floor.
The police initially classified the case as a sudden death, but public disbelief and uproar forced a coroner’s inquest to be held.
The 17-month inquest that ended last January gave an open verdict, where it ruled that Teoh’s death was neither suicide nor homicide.
Public outrage forced the Najib administration to set up the RCI to probe the circumstances surrounding the 30-year-old’s death to find out the real cause.
