By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
June 15, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — Lim Kit Siang wants the government to override the decision by the police and Attorney-General to hold an inquest for the late Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamed, and instead convene a royal commission to investigate the death.
Lim said that the Cabinet should heed the call made by the late Custom officer’s son, Shahril Ahmad, that the family preferred a royal commission of inquiry (RCI).
Shahril earlier said it would be harder to determine the cause of Sarbaini’s death through an inquest and that this would delay the pursuance of justice.
“Sarbaini’s son has called for an RCI, which is what we (DAP) have been advocating from the very beginning.
“The Cabinet should override the police and the A-G’s decision for an inquest… an RCI is needed in the case of public interest and to restore confidence in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC),” he told reporters today.
The inquest, to be presided over by Coroner Aizatul Akmal Maharani, was set for July 4 to 15 at the magistrate’s court.
In the inquest of political aide Teoh Beng Hock, who also died while under the supervision of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the coroner ruled out both suicide and homicide, and returned an open verdict.
Sarbaini, 56, was found dead on the badminton court of the MACC building at Jalan Cochrane around 10.20am on April 6, barely two hours after walking in.
His death occurred when Teoh’s RCI was still ongoing and delivered a huge blow to the anti-graft body’s already-battered credibility.
Prior to this, Sarbaini’s family had also called on the police to explore the latest allegations made by blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin before calling for an inquest.
Raja Petra, in a post on his Malaysia Today website on Monday, claimed the police had conducted a thorough check on Sarbaini’s assets and found no unusual or extraordinary wealth.
Raja Petra also accused MACC of trying to tarnish Sarbaini’s name following his death.
In Parliament yesterday, a motion by the opposition calling for Sarbaini’s death to be debated in the House was rejected by Deputy Speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee, who ruled that the matter was not “urgent”.