Media Conference Statement by Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Thursday, 27^th August 2009 at 12 noon: 

MACC should produce proof that Teoh Beng Hock had received RM112 “kickback” or it should withdraw and apologise for the allegation defaming the dead

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) bias and prejudice towards DAP and Pakatan Rakyat must be deplored in the strongest possible terms.

The most recent evidence of such bias and prejudice was evident from the testimony of MACC investigator DSP Mohd Anuar Ismail at the Teoh Beng Hock inquest yesterday.

Although the coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas had ordered Anuar’s unfair and prejudicial testimony yesterday to be expunged, the damage had been done.

The Star online for instance carried the report with the heading “Officer claims Teoh was on the take” which is still accessible just minutes ago. The Sun headline today is:“Testimony on alleged kickbacks expunged”.

Yes, the details of Anuar’s allegations have been alleged but the allegation proper remains, viz: Teoh was corrupt and guilty of “kickbacks”!

In alleging that Beng Hock was “on the take” and had received “kickbacks” MACC had not only defamed the dead but posthumously elevated Teoh’s role from being a witness to a suspect or even a person accused of corruption!

And what is the amount of this corruption money which Teoh is alleged to have received as kickback? An incredible and ridiculous sum of RM112!

MACC is not interested in the RM24 million Istana Khir Toyo or RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandals, but for an alleged RM112 “kickback”, MACC officers are prepared to work through the night and go without sleep.

No wonder public confidence in the efficiency, independence, integrity and professionalism of the MACC is plumbing new depths!

Has the MACC any incontrovertible evidence that Beng Hock was corrupt, being “on the take” and had received RM112 “kickback”?

If so, I challenge MACC to produce them, and if not, MACC should withdraw the RM112 allegation and publicly apologise for defaming the dead, and Anuar should be suspended from office immediately.

Anuar is not interested in helping to find out the truth about the causes and circumstances of Teoh’s mysterious death at the MACC headquarters on July 16 but to add one smear after another defamation on Teoh and Pakatan Rakyat in the MACC war against Pakatan Rakyat, betraying MACC’s statutory objective which was to declare war on corruption!

This is why Malaysians want a Royal Commission of Inquiry as they have so little confidence in an inquest to uncover the actual causes and circumstances of Teoh’s mysterious death at the MACC headquarters.

It is also clear from Anuar’s expunged testimony that the materials he depended upon are very similar to those which appeared on the black blog, http://t4tbh.blogspot.com/, which carried postings of lies and falsehoods about MACC investigations and Teoh’s death, all with one purpose to accuse someone from DAP as having murdered Teoh.

I call on the MACC Chief Commissioner, Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan to clarify whether MACC has ventured into the blogosphere in its war against Pakatan Rakyat and state categorically whether MACC has anything to do with this black blog of lies and falsehoods, whether!

If he does not know, has he caused a full investigation to be conducted whether MACC officers are implicated in this black blog?

Today’s press reported the statement by the Selangor Chief Police Officer Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar that the Molotov cocktail attack on a MACC vehicle in Klang last week was not related to Teoh’s death.

Last Thursday, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz was very quick in making the insinuation that someone from DAP was implicated in the Molotov cocktail attack, saying that it gave some basis to the allegation by Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong that some DAP representatives had links to the underworld.

With the statement by Selangor CPO, Nazri should withdraw and apologise for his uncalled-for insinuation against the DAP for being implicated in the Molotov attack on the MACC vehicle in Klang.

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary leader & MP for Ipoh Timor