PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has failed in its bid to stay the inquest proceedings into Teoh Beng Hock’s death at the Shah Alam magistrate’s court.
Court of Appeal judge Justice Low Hop Bing, who chaired a three-man panel, ruled that the inquest should proceed today. The decision was unanimous.
“The inquest must continue. The proceedings will not be stopped,” he said yesterday.
The judge said this after DPP Wong Chiang Kiat applied for an interim stay pending the hearing of the appeal as grounds of judgment from Petaling Jaya High Court was not available yet.
Wong, who appeared for the MACC, said the appeal would render nugatory if all witnesses, especially T. Sivanesan, testified in the inquest.
Justice Low, who sat with Justices K.N. Segara and Ramly Ali, however, ordered for the notice of motion for stay to be heard with the appeal proper.
“We will ask the registrar to write to the secretary of the (PJ High Court) Judicial Commissioner for the grounds of judgment to be supplied (to us) on an urgent basis,” said Justice Low.
He said the remedy was in the disposal of the appeal proper.
On Sept 10, the Petaling Jaya High Court ruled that “mystery witness” Sivanesan could continue to testify in the inquest.
In dismissing a revision application by the MACC, Judicial Commissioner Yeoh Wee Siam ruled that there was nothing illegal, incorrect or improper with the decision made by coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas regarding the relevance of Sivanesan’s evidence.
Yeoh also rejected an application for a stay of execution and ordered all parties to proceed with the inquest.
Datuk Abdul Razak Musa, who is holding a watching brief for the MACC, had filed for a revision against the coroner’s decision on Sept 9 to stop Sivanesan from testifying.
The application also sought to expunge Sivanesan’s testimony together with a police report and a set of photographs of his injuries.
Sivanesan, an assistant manager with Puncak Rezeki Makmur Sdn Bhd, testified that he was beaten with an iron rod and suffered injuries to his head, kidneys and genital area.
This was after Azmil Muntapha had allowed Sivanesan to take the stand despite strong objections from Abdul Razak.
The coroner said the testimony was relevant as Sivanesan’s alleged torture took place at the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam and the same officers could have been involved in Teoh’s case, too.
Teoh, who was the political secretary to Selangor executive councilor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was summoned to the MACC office on July 15 to be questioned over the alleged irregular disbursement of state funds.
He was found dead on the building’s fifth floor service corridor the following day.
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