Allegation of torture in MACC interrogations
(Malaysian Mirror) – There are police reports lodged against the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over their torture tactics during interrogation, lawyer Gobind Singh Deo alleged in the coroner’s court here.
Responding to the accusation, however, MACC investigating officer Mohd Anuar Ismail said he was not aware of such police reports.
To another question, Anuar said MACC officers often use shorter versions of their names, such as the acronym MAI for his own name.
He, however, refuted a suggestion by Gobind that the officers use the shorter versions of their names so that witnesses who were being questioned would not know the real names of their interrogators.
Gobind gril
ls witness
Anuar, from the Selangor office of the MACC, recalled to take the stand for the third time, was testifying at the inquest into the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock, which entered Day 13 on Tuesday.
Gobind , is holding a watching brief for Teoh’s family.
Teoh, 30, who was political secretary to Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on the fifth floor corridor of Plaza Masalam on July 16, after giving a statement in an investigation into alleged abuse of state government funds.
Gobind grilled the Anuar over a telephone chat between Teoh and a person believed to be lawyer M. Manoharan.
Gobind: You said Teoh made a call to someone when he arrived at the MACC building?
Anuar: Yes
Gobind: You also said you asked him to switch off his hand phone. Why?
Anuar: There is an administrative directive that a witness cannot use hand phone in the building
Gobind: Didn’t you earlier give him permission to use his phone?
Anuar: I used my discretion. I don’t know who he was speaking to. But I did give him permission to call Manoharan
Gobind: So did he call Manoharan? Wouldn’t he be waiting for his lawyer?
Anuar: I don’t know.
Frustrated by intense queries
Gobind: Since you gave him permission to call Manoharan, and you said you heard him saying "Are you coming?" Isn’t it possible that Teoh was calling Manoharan?
Anuar: Yes, most probably.
Gobind: Doesn’t it mean he could most probably be waiting for Manoharan?
Anuar knuckled the witness stand, apparently out of frustration by the intense questioning by Gobind.
The lawyer also lashed out at the witness, saying: “You are not that soft- spoken person that you have made yourself to seem.”
Did not see lawyer
Continuing to respond to Gobind’s questions, Anuar said he did not check whether Manoharan was in the building then.
Gobind: Why did you not wait for Manoharan?
Anuar: I didn’t see him
Gobind: Did u ask whether Manoharan was there?
Anuar: No
Gobind then asked if Anuar was aware that Manoharan had come in his capacity as Teoh’s lawyer and had waited for an hour to see his client. Anuar said he was not aware.
Teoh could not answer questions
Questioned by Government-appointed lawyer Tan Hock Chuan, Anuar said Teoh could not answer some questions posed by MACC investigators.
Anuar said his colleagues, Mohd Ashraf Mohd Yunus and Arman Alies, had told him this at about 1am on July 16, the day the political aide was found dead.
“They told me that Teoh could not answer some questions about some documents found in his laptop,” he said.
He added that another colleague, Mohd Nadzri Ibrahim, who recorded Teoh’s statement, told him there were no problems when the statement was recorded.
Mohd Anuar said the last MACC officer who saw Teoh in the office was Raymond Nion John Timban.
Sleeping on sofa
“I was told that Teoh had called Ashraf and asked him for a drink at 5am and at 6am, Raymond saw him sleeping on a sofa,” he said, adding that Teoh was not a suspect but the main witness in the investigations.
Mohd Anuar said that at about 9am on July 16, he saw a bag belonging to Teoh next to a sofa near Mohd Nadzri’s room.
Meanwhile, deputy public prosecutor Datuk Abdul Razak Musa, who is holding a watching brief for the MACC, told the inquest the anti-graft body was willing to produce the statement recorded from Teoh.
