‘Who’s stopping you, Pornthip?’
KUALA LUMPUR – Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Aziz Monday asked Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand to divulge who it was that “forced” her to pull out from the Teoh Beng Hock inquest.
He said that the government is not able to respond to the pathologist’s allegation without more information.
“Tell me, who is it? Is it Nazri or somebody else? We want to know. If we do not know the truth, then how can we help her?
“Anybody can say that they have been forced but we would like to know who has been forcing her,” he told reporters in Parliament.
The Thai pathologist is said to have pulled out from the Teoh inquest allegedly due to political interference.
This has raised fears among the Teoh family and political parties that the case is being tampered with at the highest level.
The Selangor government confirmed that Dr Pornthip is not returning when the inquest resumes on April 20 but they want the coroner to agree to her testimony via video-conferencing.
The 54-year-old pathologist is the director-general of Thailand’s Central Institute of Forensic Science.
‘She is lying’
She had reportedly pulled out from the ongoing case, claiming she was forced to do so because of “political pressure” from Putrajaya that could affect her work in southern Thailand.
Nazri believes that Dr Pornthip is lying because she cannot defend her testimonial in the inquest.
“That is why I said that she is a liar. I do not believe that the Malaysian government and our officials would harass her and stop her from coming.
“We know that if she has been allowed to enter the first time, why should we stop her from entering the second time? The date was also delayed to allow her to come.
“In her earlier testimony, she had said something that was sensational.
“It would be obvious that the government is trying to hide something if a high level government official tries to block her entry.
“It is certain that we would get criticised by the international community if we stopped her from entering the country the second time,” he said.
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