Teoh inquiry: MACC officer denies making up story about seeing aide on sofa

(The Star) KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) senior assistant commissioner Raymond Nion anak John Timban Tuesday denied concocting a story about seeing Teoh Beng Hock on the morning of July 16, 2009 at the Selangor MACC office in Shah Alam.

Raymond disagreed with the contention by lawyer Choew Wee from the Bar Council, stating that he definitely saw a Chinese man lying on the sofa in front of the room of MACC recording officer Mohd Nazri Ibrahim at 6am.

However, he said he could not be sure then that the man was Teoh as the place was in semi-darkness.

Raymond, from the MACC Sarawak branch, agreed with Choew that he could not be sure that the figure lying on the sofa was alive or not.

Asked how he got to know that the Chinese man was Teoh as he did not know him before, Raymond said he knew about it after being told by Hairul Ilham when he bumped into the MACC acting assistant commissioner at a car park in Putrajaya about 4.30pm on July 16, 2009.

Raymond, the 30th witness called by the Commission of Inquiry into political aide Teoh’s death, also agreed with Choew that the Chinese man lying on the sofa in the early morning of July 16, 2009 was Teoh after a discussion with the other MACC officers upon returning to the office.

He explained that from the discussion, he learnt that he was the last person to have seen Teoh that morning, besides having seen him the first time at the reception area of the Selangor MACC Community Education Room at midnight on July 15, 2009.

Raymond also told the Commission of Inquiry (CI) into Teoh’s death, that he could identify Teoh after investigating officer Mohd Anuar Ismail showed a photograph of him (Mohd Anuar) with Teoh, who was the political aide of a Selangor executive council member.

Questioned by lawyer Datuk Seri Muhammed Shafee Abdullah, who is representing the MACC, on how Raymond knew that the man lying on the sofa was Chinese, he said it was because he noticed the man had fair skin and that he was the same man with Hairul Ilham in the photograph.

Teoh, 30, was found dead on July 16, 2009 on the 5th floor corridor of Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam after giving his statement to the Selangor MACC office located on the 14th floor of the building.

The CI, chaired by Federal Court judge Tan Sri James Foong Cheng Yuen, was formed to probe Teoh’s death after an inquest returned an open verdict.