FRESH investigations into the death of Selangor DAP aide Teoh Beng Hock started in July under a special police task force and are still ongoing, Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said today, rebutting claims that he had yet to instruct police to reopen the case.

Muhyiddin said the statement by Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh yesterday that the Home Ministry had not told police to restart investigations was wrong.

“Ramkarpal’s statement that I failed to instruct the inspector-general of police to reopen the case is careless and untrue. As an MP, he should be more careful in making statements, especially on matters involving the government administration. I regret his statement,” Muhyiddin said in a statement today.

He said on June 27, he had informed his ministry of the cabinet’s decision to reopen investigations and ordered the IGP to take immediate action to execute the decision.

The police then set up a special task force after receiving the ministry’s instructions and a letter from the Attorney-General’s Chambers on July 17.

“The task force is headed by DCP K. Manoharan. They prepared investigation papers, which they sent to the attorney-general for further instructions on October 18.

“I then told the media on October 25 that police were still waiting for instructions from the attorney-general.

“On December 17, the attorney-general gave further instructions and the investigations are still in progress,” Muhyiddin said.

Ramkarpal yesterday questioned Muhyiddin’s silence on calls for Teoh’s case to be reopened.

In 2009, Teoh, then an aide to DAP Seri Kembangan assemblyman Ean Yong Bian Wah, was found dead after falling nine floors from the former Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters in Shah Alam. He had been held there overnight for questioning.

Ramkarpal said Muhyiddin had failed to respond to a letter he wrote on October 26 to inform the home minister that the attorney-general had instructed police to reopen Teoh’s case in July.

A coroner’s open verdict in 2011 on Teoh’s death found that his death was not suicide or homicide.

The Court of Appeal overturned this verdict in 2014, ruling instead that the death from a fall could have been due to unlawful actions of other persons. 

The MACC then agreed to pay RM600,000 to Teoh’s family to settle a negligence suit.

A Royal Commission of Inquiry concluded in July 2011 that Teoh was driven to commit suicide, blaming “intensive interrogation” by MACC officers. – January 11, 2019.