Media statement by Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 27^th June 2012: 

Scandalous! Outrageous! Najib administration not serious about bringing Teoh’s killers to justice

It is downright scandalous and outrageous – the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) taking three times longer than the Teoh Beng Hock (TBH) Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to conduct its internal probe into the RCI findings on the criminal transgressions of MACC officers resulting in Teoh’s death at MACC headquarters in Shah Alam on July 16, 2009.

And what is the outcome of such MACC internal probe? To decide on the disciplinary action to be taken against the three MACC officers whose “aggressive, relentless, oppressive and unscrupulous interrogation” had “driven” Teoh “to commit suicide”!

The MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Abu Kassim Mohamed said today that the MACC would first make its recommendations to its complaints committee before meting out appropriate disciplinary action against the trio.

The message is very simple and crystal clear – the Najib administration and the MACC are just not serious in wanting to bring Teoh’s killers to justice!

The TBH RCI took less than four months to conduct public hearings and finalise its report, holding its first public hearing on 24th February 2011 while submitting its report on 22nd June 2011. The 124-page TBH RCI report was made public on July 21, 2011.

The RCI was formed after public uproar over the “Open verdict” of an inquest 18 months’ after the tragedy of Teoh’s death.

When the TBH RCI report was made public, MACC announced that it accepted with an open heart the findings of the RCI on the death of Teoh Beng Hock and pledged that appropriate action would be taken on RCI findings and recommendations.

When there was no action against any MACC officer, this led to another nation-wide outrage resulting in MACC succumbing 48 hours later to public pressure suspending three MACC officers named by the RCI as responsible for Teoh’s death from further investigation duties pending an internal probe.

What is needed now is an independent inquiry as to why the MACC has taken three times longer than the TBH RCI and has still not been able to complete its internal probe into the RCI findings with regard to the MACC officers who must be held responsible for Teoh’s death.

If MACC has really accepted the RCI findings and recommendations, have all the MACC officers concerned who had acted with impunity in utter disregard of the law resulting in the death of Teoh Beng Hock, and then conspired to cover up the truth and commit the crime of perjury both at the TBH Inquest and at the Royal Commission of Inquiry public hearings with false evidence, been charged in court for various crimes, including the murder of Teoh Beng Hock?

On the approach of Teoh’s third death anniversary, let the Prime Minister and the Cabinet not only answer the above question but also declare whether the MACC or the Government are prepared to publicly accept responsibility for causing the death of Teoh Beng Hock and make a generous ex-gratia compensation payment to TBH's family, among other things, to minimise the family's sufferings and to facilitate a closure of the tragedy?

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