THE police have recorded statements from five individuals, including from former Selangor exco member Ean Yong Hian Wah, following the reopening of Teoh Beng Hock’s case.

Selangor police chief Noor Azam Jamaluddin said in a statement that said apart from Ean Yong, they have also recorded the statement from former Kota Alam Shah assemblyman M. Manoharan.

“We have recorded five statements and we will be calling Tricia Yeoh, who wrote an article in July regarding the case in the New Straits Times.

“We will also be calling several other witnesses from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in the near future. The investigation papers will be submitted to the Attorney-General’s Chambers from time to time,” the top cop said.

Azam further said police have formed a task force comprising officers from Bukit Aman and the Selangor state contingent to look for new leads.

In 2009, Teoh, then an aide to Ean Yong, was found dead on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam, hours after he was interrogated by Selangor MACC in its office on the 14th floor of the same building.

A royal commission of inquiry concluded that Teoh was driven to suicide by the aggressive interrogation methods used by MACC officers.

In July, Attorney-General Tommy Thomas said there is insufficient evidence for a homicide charge in Teoh’s murder case.

This decision was necessary because despite numerous rounds of scrutiny by officers in chambers, most recently in 2019, of the evidence collected from the investigation into possible homicide following the Court of Appeal’s finding, the present state of evidence is insufficient to proffer a charge under Section 304 or 304 A of the Penal Code.

“The instruction from this chambers to police to open an investigation paper classified under Section 342 of the Penal Code is merely an administrative procedure,” Thomas said in the letter to Teoh’s family lawyer Ramkarpal Singh.

In a reply to Thomas, Ramkarpal said the fresh investigation into Teoh’s death must focus on homicide instead of wrongful confinement.

Ramkarpal urged Thomas to explain why the case is now under investigation for wrongful confinement despite elements of homicide in Teoh’s death while in custody of MACC officers.

“It is utterly disappointing for the matter to be investigated for a much lesser offence of wrongful confinement when the Court of Appeal had clearly indicated in its judgment that there was evidence of homicide surrounding Teoh’s death.

“This warrants an explanation by the authorities as to how this could arise, especially in light of the Court of Appeal’s findings surrounding Teoh’s death,” Ramkarpal previously said. – November 18, 2019.