The James Foong Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the death of Teoh Beng Hock (TBH) is a great disappointment, as it has come out with a finding of “TBH was driven to commit suicide by the aggressive, relentless, oppressive and unscrupulous interrogation by certain officers of the MACC”(Para 119) , which is rejected by all right-thinking Malaysians.
There is however a silver lining in the TBH RCI Report as it has provided four new leads which are powerful reasons why the police should re-open investigations into who killed TBH at the MACC headquarters at Shah Alam on July 16, 2009.
LEAD ONE –
the TBH RCI was most scathing in its indictment of the character and testimony of the MACC officers especially from Selangor at the RCI. Apart from two brave and truthful souls from Selangor MACC, i.e. Azeem Hafeez Jamaluddin and Azlan (Para 176), the TBH RCI virtually dismissed the rest as a pack of liars led by Hishamuddin Hashim (HH), the “mastermind” of the massive and unjustified operation which resulted in TBH’s death.
This is what the TBH RCI has to say about Hishammuddin, the “mastermind”:
“We found him to be arrogant, given to falsehoods, untruthful and uncompromising in his stand. His falsehoods, particularly of his non-active involvement in the entire operation at the material time, were exposed from the contradictory statements he made before us. But more compelling was the confirmation from two of his own officers, namely Azeem and Azian who were brave enough to reveal towards the later part of our proceedings the actual role of HH in this operation despite the fact that HH was their superior and still holds a senior position in the MACC as director of the MACC Negri Sembilan.”
As for Anuar Ismail (Anuar), who was appointed investigation officer (IO) of the operation by “mastermind” Hishamuddin, the TBH RCI statement cannot be more condemnatory: “Anuar lied about the role he played in order to cover up for HH. And on top of these factors, he was a trusted senior officer of HH who was prepared to sacrifice himself for HH, the other such officer Hairul Ilham having gone home by that time.” (Para 195).
In Para 337, the TBH RCI said: “That HH and others under his command lied in this inquiry is borne home by the testimonies of Azeem and Azian, the two MACC offices who were courageous enough to testify that attempts were made to get them to say that HH was not directly involved in the operation and that it was Hairul Ilham who was in charge”.
In fact, the TBH RCI report is fertile source for the formulation of multiple perjury charges against Hishamuddin and other MACC officers in giving false testimony at the RCI – a judicial proceeding under the definition of Penal Code Section 193 which provides for the maximum sentence of seven years jail and fine on conviction.
Para 336 of TBH RCi is an example where a perjury charge could be framed against Hishammuddin, as it said:
“The evidence adduced showed that the MACC officers were prepared to go to great lengths to lie. One glaring example is that of HH, a very senior officer, who was overall in charge of operations on that fateful 15th evening and spilling over into the early hours of the morning of the16th. In testimony before us, he was adamant in his stand that he had no knowledge whatsoever that complaints of assault and use of force had been lodged against officers under his charge with the police. However, his lie was exposed with startling clarity when DSP Kamaruddin Ismail from the Selangor police produced a letter written by HH himself in 2008 responding to police inquiries in relation to the complaints of assault and related abuses of power that had been lodged against MACC officers under his command.”
Will the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani for Patail arrest and charge Hishammuddin for perjury just based on Para 336 of the TBH RCI?
With all MACC Selangor officers led by Hishammuddin dismissed as “a pack of liars” (apart from Azeem and Azian), this would mean that they had lied all the way from the initial police investigations into TBH’s death, the TBH inquest and the TBH RCI about what happened to TBH in MACC on the fateful days of July 15/16, 2009.
As the police had been lied to in police criminal investigations into TBH’s death, this means that all the police statements given by Hishammuddin and the MACC Selangor officers (except for Azeem and Azian) about what happened to TBH in his three interrogations in MACC from 6 pm on 15th July to 3.30 am on 16th July were untrue, worthless and must be rejected – justifying a re-opening of police investigations into TBH’s death.
LEAD TWO –
The TBH RCI reported that apart from the three interrogations from 6pm on 15th to 3.30 am on 16th July, there was a hitherto unknown “Fourth Interrogation” of TBH between 3.30 am and 7 am on the 16th “that broke the camel’s back, so to speak, that propelled TBH to commit suicide” (Para 166).
Para 229 said: “By the time, the fourth or final stage of the interrogation was over, TBH would have been almost a mental and physical wreck.”
Police investigations into TBH’s death never knew about this “Fourth Interrogation” between 3.30 am to 7 am on 16th July – a second lead from the TBH RCI report on why police should re-open investigations. In fact, it should also investigate whether there was a “fifth” interrogation between 7 am to 11 am – depending on the time of TBH’s death.
LEAD THREE
– Hishammuddin was the “mastermind” in the host of criminalities and breaches of the law in the massive operation resulting in TBH’s death. Though deputy director of MACC Selangor at the time in charge of investigations and intelligence-gathering, Hishammuddin “appeared to have absolute authority to investigate anyone whom he suspected to be involved in any corrupt practice in the state without even informing or obtaining the consent of his superiors in the in the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya (HQ) or his superior on the ground, the director of Selangor of MACC.” (Para 23).
Hishammuddin blatantly abused his powers when he launched the massive 33-officer operation which resulted in TBH’s death “solely on a mere belief and without supporting facts” (Para 184) based on a “mere” telephone call (Para 188).
These are revelations which would justify police re-opening investigations into TBH’s death to find out who gave Hishammuddin the sense of immunity and impunity for breaking laws and committing crimes, going over the head of his superior in Selangor and in national headquarters resulting in TBH’s death?
LEAD FOUR –
A few days after TBH’s tragic death on 16th July 2009, a “black blog” appeared which accused DAP of TBH’s murder to distract public attention from the real cause of TBH’s death – raising the suspicion that the “black blog” was the work of people responsible for killing him.
Furthermore, the “black blog” had the finger prints of MACC or MACC officers as it contained documents related to TBH investigations which were only in the possession of MACC.
This is the fourth lead justifying the re-opening of police investigations into TBH’s death as police investigation into who was behind the “black blog” would probably have found TBH’s killers as well.
[Speech (Part 2) at the DAP forum on “Teoh Beng Hock Royal Commission Inquiry Report – Where is the promised truth?” on Tuesday, 26th July 2011 at 9 pm]
This JF RCI is a bunch of clowns.
Just dangle a few singles and JF and his merrymen will make all your worries go away.
Umno GOM will recommend JF and his merrymen for Tan Sri ships.Well done lapdoggies.
Scenario:
RCI on Altantooyoo’s death— she was also forced to commit suicide by detonating the C4 explosives herself. Nobody else was involved. The 2 policemen must be freed.
How did she get hold of the explosives? By FEDEX from mongolia.
Why did she do so? One the instructions from Jenghiz Khan, her great ancestor.
Case solved and no more questioning.
JF RCI = James Foong’s Royal Cum Interjection. His masters must be enjoying this.
“Beng hock forced by macc to kill himself.” RCI
“Oh it is normal for a witness to kill himself.” Utusan.
“Macc officers are great liars and they lied big time before the agung during the inquiry.” RCI
What now utusan? Errr maybe this: “It is normal for umno’s macc officers to lie”?
[IN THE BACKROOM]
“Hoi, k1980, you better get the sequence of events right.”
“Oh dear me. Hv I got it wrong?”
“Yeah certainly. What actually took place then were these: Altan, first, shot herself twice and died. Then she strapped herself with c4 explosives and set them off to blow herself and her unborned child to bits.”
“Huh?” “Wot??”
“Oh??!!” “Hmmmm …”
(There are something not quite right here. Wish I can figure them out. … Heck! Nevermind. It ought to be good enough for umno to take to town.)
“Boss. Ni dia press statement.”
“Bzzzz. Bzzzzzz.”
“OK”
Bzzzz. Bzzzzz.”
“Uh ha. Bagus.”
“Ingat ya boss. When in doubt or kalau kena challenged, just declare ‘investigation closed’. Habis cerita. Kalau kena challenge lagi then say errr … apa apa je seperti biasa ‘anti-melayu, anti-islam jenis-umno, anti-agung, communist, terrorist, zionist.'”
“OK”
[Tuan tuan puan puan monyet babi anjing ahli ahli media utama sekalian …]
“Oooooh”.
“Aaaaaaaaah.”
Kit,
Well articulated analysis.
You will make a good criminal lawyer.
The only impact of TBH’s death on MACC was for some contractors to become richer. Did you see the state of the art investigation room and equipment in the basement now? Instead of looking into the whole work culture, the value and the world view of MACC officers, they put in all these nonsense to show that they are transparent and honest in their investigation. They failed to see that it is MACC officers, many of them racists, parochial in their thinking, extremely biased, partisan politically, and rudimentary in investigation skill that are causing the problems in MACC.
It is really amazing how these high ranking officers with lots of pips and crowns on their shoulders think. When one their witnesses or suspects fell from the window from the high floor, they decide to move the investigation underground. I think mediocrity has really taken its root deep in this country. I think everyone of those in high office is a nincompoop. Next when someone knock his/her head against the wall, they must decide the cushion pad the room! “Nincompoopism” really knows no bound.
Is this Attorney General qualified enough to do the job? Is he there because he is an UMNO bumi?
Fabrication of evidence. This seems to be the standard operating procedures in a number of institutions to get a conviction at all cost at the expense of the victims.
Such cold, callous people with no conscience should be put away for good and not be allowed to continue in their ways.
The people deserve better but instead are protected by the BN government. A change is therefore necessary. No other way. We must make it happen.
Any right thinking, decent and sincere Govt. would have investigated this death thoroughly right from the start and got to the bottom of it. Instead it dragged this into a long and arduous inquest, then reluctantly agree to an RCI that initially had a term of reference clearly trying to avoid getting at the truth of the death and then only agreeing to change its TOF after pressure from the public. Such avoidance tactics speaks of a deliberate attempt at a cover up. The RCI reveals as much when it condemns in scathing terms the testimonies of HH and his various subordinates.
Now that the RCI had given them an “official” verdict that favours them, it would need a Herculean effort to get them to still try to get at the truth. Like drowning men, they would seize on this straw as a way out to try to close this issue to prevent the truth from getting out, especially with GE13 looming.
We must keep this on the radar. Ahmad Sarbaini’s death under similar circumstances reinforces the need to bring those responsible to justice to pay for their crimes. Setting up new interrogation rooms with CCTV cameras are not going to convince the public when crucial video footage can be conveniently found “missing” or deleted in Ahmad Sarbaini’s case. The MACC has time and again proven they will abuse their powers and then fabricate or destroy evidence that can incriminate them. The mindset must change and those that had encourage such evil methods must be destroyed.
Maybe the 3 MACC officers should get a dose of how it feels to be interrogated for endless hours and overnight?
Maybe a good idea.
This time the truth would spill out together with their shit and urine.
Maybe the 3 MACC officers will also look for some windows to jump?
WOuld the truth come out then.
It is so easy to make one of them tell the truth. Don’t need to be a Gestapo or MACC rogue to get them to tell the truth. A little persuauasion. And a little subtlety.
All these MACC idiots like that lawyer Musa …it’s so easy to wrap them around your finger.
Liars can’t lie forever. And that is a fact. This is also lesson 101 for Najib.
Their method of “investigation” seem to be arrest the suspect first, then get a “confession” out of them. Job done. No need to go out to look for evidence.