Thursday, 5 April 2012

MACC trio implicated in Teoh Beng Hock case cleared by AG's Chambers

Three Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission officers implicated by the Teoh Beng Hock royal commission of inquiry have been cleared of wrongdoing.

In a Parliamentary written reply, de facto Law Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz said the trio have been cleared by the Attorney-General's Chambers.

NONE"Thus, no action will be taken against the three officers," he said.

Nazri was responding to a question by Gopeng MP Dr Lee Boon Chye, who asked the government to specify what kind of action has been taken against the trio.

The three-member RCI led by former Court of Appeal judge Steve Shim had found the three MACC officers' aggressive interogation tactics have contributed to Teoh's suicide on July 16, 2009.

The trio are then-Selangor MACC deputy director Hishammuddin Hashim, assistant enforcement office Arman Alies and assistant superintendent Mohd Ashraf Mohd Yunus.

They were suspended in July last year pending investigations. Hishamuddin has since been promoted to Negeri Sembilan MACC director while the current status of Arman and Mohd Ashraf is unknown.
Mere disciplinary infraction

In the final RCI report recommended MACC to take action against the trio, whom they described as Arman "the bully", Mohd Ashraf "the abuser" and Hishammuddin "the arrogant leader".

azlanNazri said that the Attorney-General's Chambers have examined statements presented by the police who investigated the three based on evidence adduced during the inquest and RCI.

Following this, the Attorney-General's Chambers found that the trio did not commit a crime based on Penal Code or the MACC Act 2009.

He added that the MACC's special investigation team had also cleared the trio of violating the Civil Service Regulations (Behaviour and Disciplinary) 1993, MACC Act 2009 and the commission's internal rules.

"Based on this investigation, it was condluded that only one disciplinary charge can be made against (the trio) - a charge of failing to supervise the witness being investigated," he said.

In a related development, Nazri was asked by Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching what was the result of investigations against the trio under Section 304A of the Penal Code (death caused by negligence) and Section 120A of the Penal Code (concealing a design to commit an offence).

In his written reply to Teo, Nazri said a police report based on the quoted laws have been made by Teoh’s sister.

“The investigation papers have been referred to the state prosecution chief and the Attorney-General’s Chambers for investigations and advice,” he said.

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