Judge: Mystery witness can testify

What say you on the issue below?

PETALING JAYA: The “mystery witness” in the Teoh Beng Hock inquest, T. Sivanesan can continue to take the stand after the High Court dismissed an application by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to expunge his testimony.

Justice Yeoh Wee Siam, in making her decision, said there was nothing illegal, incorrect or improper with the ruling made by Coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas on Tuesday regarding the relevance of Sivanesan’s evidence.

“I have perused all the documents and considered all the submissions. There is nothing illegal, incorrect or improper by the Coroner to allow Sivanesan to testify and I dismiss this application,” she said.

Justice Yeoh also rejected an application of a stay of execution by deputy public prosecutor Manoj Kurup, who represented the commission and ordered all parties to proceed with the inquest.

Earlier, Manoj submitted to the court that the MACC’s objections were based solely on the ground that Sivanesan’s testimony would not assist the Coroner in the inquest but would be prejudicial to the commission.

“The only essence or purpose of this witness was to smear, taint and tarnish the image of the commission and nothing more. It has no nexus to the cause of death of Teoh,” he said.

Gobind Singh Deo, representing Teoh’s family, submitted that the Coroner should be allowed to conduct the inquest the way he sees fit.

“Why is the MACC allowed to bring witness to say that nothing happened but why aren’t we allowed to bring our witness to say something had happened, did happen, and will continue to happen?” he said, adding that it was the Coroner’s prerogative whether to believe the witness or otherwise.

On Wednesday, the application for a judicial review to stop Sivanesan from testifying in the inquest and to expunge his testimony was filed by Datuk Abdul Razak Musa, who is holding a watching brief for the commission.

Sivanesan, an assistant manager with Puncak Rezeki Makmur Sdn Bhd, claimed that he was beaten with an iron rod and suffered injuries to his head, kidneys and genital area.