Najib Meets Beng Hock’s Family
(Bernama) — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak Tuesday met the family of the late Teoh Beng Hock and gave the assurance that every effort would be made to find out the cause of the political aide's death.
Present at the meeting, held at the invitation of the prime minister at the Prime Minister's Office, were Beng Hock's father, Teoh Leong Hwee, 62, mother Teng Shuw Hor, elder brother Teoh Beng Kee, younger sister Teoh Lee Lan and fiancee Soh Cher Wei.
Najib once again conveyed his sympathies and heartfelt condolences to the family. He told them that he himself and the whole Cabinet viewed the sudden death of Beng Hock with grave concern.
“No stone will be left unturned in finding out the real cause of death and, if there is any foul play, action will definitely be taken,” Najib told the next-of-kin during the 30-minute meeting from about 7.30pm.
Beng Hock, 30, was found dead on the fifth floor corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam on July 16 after being interviewed as a witness by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), located on the 14th floor of the same building, in connection with allegations that certain Selangor state assemblymen had misused constituency funds.
Beng Hock was the political aide of Selangor State Executive Councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah. Najib also explained to Beng Hock’s family that the setting up of a royal commission of inquiry and the inquest actually constituted a two-pronged approach to find out the real cause of the unfortunate incident.
The inquest is a mandatory requirement of the law for cases of this nature involving sudden death and the royal commission of inquiry was set up for the purpose of looking into the procedural aspects of the MACC in carrying out investigations.
Najib told the family that the inquiry and inquest would surely find out whether any aspect as well as other measures taken could have been related to or led to the tragic incident.
In any case, the findings of the inquest would also be considered as an input for the royal commission of inquiry, said Najib, adding that the two-pronged approach would, therefore, hopefully arrive at the truth in a fair and just manner.
In response to the Teoh family’s request that the unborn child of Beng Hock be allowed to carry the surname of Teoh after birth, the prime minister said he would ask the Attorney-General and the relevant government departments to find a solution.
Beng Hock’s fiancee, Soh Cher Wei, 28, a school teacher from Semenyih, is currently two months’ pregnant.
Beng Hock was to have registered his marriage to Soh on July 17. A relative of Beng Hock, former DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock, was also present at the meeting.
