Guilty officers will not be protected, MACC No 2 tells RCI
By Boo Su-Lyn, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 — The national anti-graft authority will not protect its officers should a royal panel find them responsible for Teoh Beng Hock’s death, a top graftbuster said today.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy chief commissioner (Operations) Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull also said they too want to know the truth behind the DAP political aide’s mysterious plunge outside an MACC office in 2009.
“Your Honour, I ask whatever decision is made by the RCI (Royal Commission of Inquiry), if it finds MACC officers guilty, take action,” said Shukri at the inquiry.
“We won’t protect the officers because it’ll affect MACC’s image. We want the truth,” he added.
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.
The RCI, which is led by sitting Federal Court judge Tan Sri James Foong, is to send its report to the King by April 25.