A Cover-Up For Murder, Malaysian Style

Banting 18/07/2009: Initial findings in the pathologist’s report on political secretary Teoh Beng Hock showed that he died of multiple injuries due to a high fall. Selangor police chief Deputy Comm Khalid Abu Bakar said they had yet to rule out foul play in Teoh’s death. “Now that we know that his death was due to multiple injuries due to a fall from height, we want to know why he fell. “For now, I will not say there is no foul play We will investigate thoroughly and wait for the full pathologist’s report,” he told a press conference after a Rakan Cop Programme at Kuala Langat here Saturday.

DCP Khalid said the case was classified under sudden death report, for now. The Selangor police have formed a task force lead by the state CID chief Senior Asst Comm I Hasnan Hassan to investigate the case, he said and urged all quarters to give their full cooperation in assisting police in their investigations. DCP Khalid said the police did not receive report from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over the incident.

Regarding the time of Teoh’s death, he said police would have to wait till the pathologist’s full report was ready in the next several days. “We look into all angles and we have our theory in this case,” he said.

Teoh, 30, the political aide to Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam on Thursday after giving his statement to MACC.His body was found nine floors below the commission’s office on the 14th floor of the building at 1.30pm. He was assisting the commission in investigations pertaining to alleged misappropriation of allocations involving several Selangor assemblymen.

DCP Khalid said the police had recorded statement from 23 people and 17 of them are investigating officers of MACC and workers at the Plaza Masalam.

He said police would call a few more MACC officers to record their statements.The police would conduct several raids and checks to get evidences,” he said, adding that Teoh’s colleagues and close family members would also be called for statements. DCP Khalid also said the police have obtained Closed Circuit TV recordings from the Plaza Masalam building management. “We have viewed the footage and would do comparison between the footage and the statements,” he said. However, police could not get CCTV recordings from MACC office as the officer does not have CCTV facilities.

When asked if there were complaints that MACC officers were not in the office when Teoh’s body was found, he said police were told most of the officers were out on duty when police arrived about 1.30pm. Edited from The Star - The Might Of The Pen