Selangor has pulled out of the Royal Commission of Inquiry investigating Teoh Beng Hock’s death, which today decided to call forensic pathologists Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand and Dr Peter Vanezis as witnesses.
RCI chairman Tan Sri James Foong said on the third day of the inquiry that the decision to call the two as witnesses was made after the panel visited Plaza Masalam this morning, where the DAP political aide was found dead in the early hours of July 16, 2009.
But Selangor lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar said the state government has withdrawn from the inquiry due to inconsistencies by the Attorney-General in having his staff serve as conducting officers while also trying to revise the inquest verdict.
A coroner’s court had earlier reached an open verdict, saying Teoh’s death was neither suicide nor homicide. Teoh’s family lawyers have also applied to revise the verdict.
The Teoh family had also pulled out of the inquiry yesterday.
Malik also accused Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail of undermining the inquiry by not withdrawing his application to revise the verdict at the inquest.
“He (the Attorney-General)... ignores the objective and value of this inquiry,” said Malik.
“The insistence... to continue (the inquiry) in the face of pending proceedings at the Shah Alam High Court is of concern,” he added.
The Shah Alam High Court earlier today fixed May 23 to hear the Attorney-General’s application to revise the verdict.
The Teoh family believes that the Attorney-General is seeking to revise the open verdict to a suicide finding.
The family withdrew from the proceedings after the royal panel decided to continue the inquiry despite a proposed judicial review over the appointment of DPPs as conducting officers.
In response to the Selangor state government withdrawing from the inquiry, Foong said: “We note with regret but the commission will continue.”
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) lawyer Datuk Seri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah stressed that the Attorney-General did not have the right to withdraw his application to revise the inquest’s open verdict.
“Once it’s done, he’s got no power to withdraw it,” said Shafee.
“It’s in the hands of the court,” he added.
Bar Council representative Christopher Leong told the commission that they were “hanging by a thread” after Malik left the courtroom.
“We propose to this commission that the Attorney-General be directed to appear before this commission to state the position (of the) revision that is pending in the High Court,” said Leong.
“This commission is dominated by the Attorney-General’s Chambers (and) together with the question of the revision, it is imperative that the Attorney-General state his position,” he added.
Leong also suggested that a foreign agency take over investigations for the RCI “to be independent and seen to be independent.”
Foong, however, said the commission had already told all parties involved to present relevant information.
“Why don’t you put down what area you want us to investigate? We want that,” said the Federal Court judge.
The Teoh family had said earlier it would push for Dr Pornthip to be called as a witness as she was the one who had brought attention to the pre-fall injuries on Teoh’s neck.
Dr Pornthip was the only one out of five forensic experts at the inquest who supported the Teoh family’s claims of foul play, although she declined to repeat her previous assertion that Teoh’s death was 80 per cent homicide.
The three government pathologists at the inquest — Dr Shahidan Md Noor, Dr Prashant Samberkar and Dr Khairul Aznam Ibrahim — are also on the witness list.
Dr Pornthip also said Teoh was likely to have been unconscious before he fell nine floors from the then-Selangor MACC headquarters in Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam.
Dr Vanezis — famed for his role in Princess Diana’s inquest — similarly did not rule out the possibility that Teoh could have suffered pre-fall injuries.
Coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas had confirmed the existence of pre-fall injuries sustained by the former political secretary to Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah.
Azmil also raised doubt over whether Teoh could have exited unaided from the window on the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam before his fatal plunge following overnight interrogation by MACC officers.
