MACC threatened me, says DAP man

(The Star) – KUALA LUMPUR: A DAP municipal councillor told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the death of Teoh Beng Hock that he was threatened and harassed by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Com-mission (MACC) officers.

Kajang councillor Tan Boon Wah, who was taken to the Selangor MACC office for questioning on July 15, 2009, said he was threatened with bodily harm and made to worry about his wife and child.

“The officers told me they would bring my wife in and it would result in no one being around to take care of my then five-year-old child,” said Tan.

He said one of the MACC officers had also threatened to bring his daughter to the MACC office to see him cry.

Tan was brought to the state MACC office on the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam, for questioning on the same day as deceased political aide Teoh, in relation to investigations pertaining to the illegal disbursement of state funds.

Teoh, who was Seri Kembangan assemblyman Ean Yong Hian Wah’s political secretary, was found dead the following day at the building’s fifth floor service corridor.

Tan, who was held at the MACC office for 17 hours from 8.30pm on July 15, 2009 to 1.35pm the following day, said he was made to stand motionless in a dark room, was intimidated with a racial slur and was called stupid.

Tan added that one of the officers, Bulkini Paharuddin, who had picked him up from his Cheras home, accused him of not supplying a consignment of flags ordered by the Seri Kembangan assemblyman’s office.

“I told the officers that I had bought the flags and supplied them as required,” said Tan, who had charged Ean Yong’s office RM2,400 for the consignment.

Tan added that he was still accused in spite of showing them documents pertaining to the order.

“When I denied the allegation, Bulkini pointed his finger to my nose and gestured as if he wanted to beat me up,” he added.

He said the MACC officers were trying to force him to admit to their allegations to implicate Ean Yong.

“They told me I should admit my guilt if I loved my family and made me swear three times that my family will be ruined in the event I was lying,” he said.

Tan also said he had seen Teoh when he was rushing to the toilet about 2am on July 16.

His head was bowed and he was walking slowly.

“I asked him: You are still here?’

“He just mumbled: Huh’,” said Tan.

Meanwhile, Selangor MACC senior assistant enforcement officer Raymond Nion John Timban, who was called after Tan, said he had seen Teoh alive at about 6am on July 16.

Earlier in the day, MACC deputy commissioner of operations Datuk Shukri Abdul said the incident had adversely affected the anti-graft body.

He admitted that there were weaknesses in MACC’s system and added it would be corrected.

Shukri also said in the event the commission finds that MACC officers were liable for Teoh’s death, necessary action will be instituted against them.

“We will not protect our officers. We want justice for Teoh, his fam-ily, the public and also MACC,” he said.